Difference between revisions of "523: Decline"
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
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| − | + | [[Cueball]], apparently concerned about the status of his romantic relationship, has constructed a "relationship graph" plotting an ambiguously quantitative metric for love and/or affection against time. He has identified a sudden drop. Cueball's romantic partner (apparently [[Megan]]) notes from off screen that the drop corresponds to the moment Cueball's obsession with graphs began. He claims the two events are coincidental, thereby referencing the recurring xkcd theme of [[552: Correlation|correlation not necessarily implying causation]]. | |
A Fourier transform breaks down the graph into periodic components. A spike at 1-month on the Fourier transform would mean that something happens every month that causes the relationship to decline. This is probably a reference to Megan's {{w|menstruation}}, that is, her 'time of the month,' stereotypically depicted by having a woman uncharacteristically, sometimes, violently, always ludicrously, crabby. | A Fourier transform breaks down the graph into periodic components. A spike at 1-month on the Fourier transform would mean that something happens every month that causes the relationship to decline. This is probably a reference to Megan's {{w|menstruation}}, that is, her 'time of the month,' stereotypically depicted by having a woman uncharacteristically, sometimes, violently, always ludicrously, crabby. | ||
Revision as of 15:11, 16 October 2013
| Decline |
 Title text: 'There is also a spike on the Fourier transformation at the one month mark where--' 'You want to stop talking right now.' |
Explanation
Cueball, apparently concerned about the status of his romantic relationship, has constructed a "relationship graph" plotting an ambiguously quantitative metric for love and/or affection against time. He has identified a sudden drop. Cueball's romantic partner (apparently Megan) notes from off screen that the drop corresponds to the moment Cueball's obsession with graphs began. He claims the two events are coincidental, thereby referencing the recurring xkcd theme of correlation not necessarily implying causation.
A Fourier transform breaks down the graph into periodic components. A spike at 1-month on the Fourier transform would mean that something happens every month that causes the relationship to decline. This is probably a reference to Megan's menstruation, that is, her 'time of the month,' stereotypically depicted by having a woman uncharacteristically, sometimes, violently, always ludicrously, crabby.
Fourier transformations were mentioned previously in xkcd.
Transcript
- [Cueball is pointing at a line graph at a specific point where it slopes down. The Y axis shows that as Y increases, love increases.]
- Cueball: Our relationship entered its decline at this point.
- Megan: That's when you started graphing everything.
- Cueball: Coincidence!
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refresh comments!Discussion
"Wife"? 76.106.251.87 00:33, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
- Indeed, plus the notion that Cueball had begun graphing everything at a particular point while prior data had been graphed suggests that he only began presenting this data to Megan at that point, and had been secretly, perhaps obsessively, keeping data well before in their relationship. Thokling (talk) 09:25, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
- Megan does say "graphing everything" not "keeping data": it is possible that Cueball had been even openly collecting data prior to graphing it, or that his graphing of things just increased significantly at that point. L-Space Traveler (talk) 00:12, 3 September 2022 (UTC)
isn't it a bit speculative to add this to "comics featuring megan"? I'd "be bold" and remove it from there but I don't know how to. 198.41.230.33 01:06, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
as a gen z dude i have no clue, but the 1 month thing could also be periods? maybe link the uterus-hertz comic? 172.69.62.244 21:06, 24 July 2021 (UTC)Bumpf
Megan can definitely do better anyways; I don't see a label on the x-axis. Magicalus (talk) 04:25, 23 January 2024 (UTC)
