Editing 385: How it Works

{{comic
| number    = 385
| date      = February 18, 2008
| title     = How It Works
| image     = how it works.png
| titletext = It's pi plus C, of course.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic reveals discriminative jargon against women when doing tasks such as mathematics. When a guy does something wrong, it's his own mistake. When a girl does something wrong, it is taken as a confirmation that girls are inferior.

The mathematics displayed is neither {{w|semantically}} nor {{w|syntactically}} correct. To begin with, there should (reasonably) be a ''dx'' after x<sup>2</sup>. Adding this, we have an {{w|indefinite integral}} on the left hand side.

The answer given in the title text, {{w|π}} + C, is just nonsensical: What we want is a {{w|Function (mathematics)|function}} whose {{w|derivative}} is x<sup>2</sup>. Now, x<sup>3</sup>/3 satisfies this condition. However, since adding a {{w|constant (mathematics)|constant}} to a function does not change its derivative, the full answer is (any function of the form) x<sup>3</sup>/3 {{w|Constant of integration|+ C}}, where C is any fixed number. The "plus a constant" part is very easy to forget, and might even be omitted by a (sloppy) professional mathematician. So if someone really gave the answer π, "you forgot to add a constant" would be a pretty funny remark, because in one way it's true, but on the other hand it wouldn't quite be the main thing to worry about. (It is especially inane as π itself ''is'' a constant.)

It would also be possible to fix the equation by adding [http://www.mathwords.com/b/bounds_of_integration.htm bounds of integration], so that {{w|π}} becomes the area below a section of the curve x<sup>2</sup>. That is called a definite integral, and there would be no "+ C". The bounds would have to be somewhat awkward though; if 0 was the lower bound, the cube root of 3π would have to be the upper.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and an friend stand at a blackboard. The friend is writing, in standard mathematical notation, that the integral of x squared equals pi. No differential or bounds are given for the integral.]
:Cueball: Wow, you suck at math.
:[The same scene, except the writer is Megan.]
:Cueball: Wow, girls suck at math.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Math]]