21: Kepler
explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
| Kepler |
 Title text: Science joke. You should probably move along. |
[edit] Explanation
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, best known for his laws of planetary motion. By observing our solar system each night at the same spot, Kepler was able to deduce that planets in the system do not move in a circular direction around the Sun, but rather in an elliptical way. According to Kepler's Second Law, "A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time."
In the comic, the janitor Kepler also sweeps the same area, although in this case "area" is used in the sense of "surface" (of floor) rather than in the purely mathematical sense.
[edit] Transcript
- [Two people stand in an aisle in a store.]
- Person 1: Nice store. How do you keep the floors so clean?
- Person 2: Oh, we hired this dude named Kepler, he's really good. Hard worker. Doesn't mind the monotony. Sweeps out the same area every night.
[edit] Trivia
- [Original Randall quote]: "Another one which, if you don't get, you're probably better off."
- This is the twentieth comic posted to livejournal. The previous was 20: Ferret. The next was 44: Love.
add a comment!Discussion
Rikthoff (talk) The date of issue of this comic is off. Does anybody have the correct issue date?
- It appears to be accurate; it's the date from Randall's xkcd LiveJournal entry. Blaisepascal (talk) 02:21, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
