866: Compass and Straightedge
explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
| Compass and Straightedge |
 Title text: The Greeks long suspected this, but it wasn't until April 12th of 1882 that Ferdinand von Lindemann conclusively proved it when he constructed himself the most awesome birthday party possible and nobody showed up. |
Explanation
The comic is an observation that no amount of technical knowledge can substitute for human companionship. This comic is funny because Cueball is a stick figure so technically it is possible to create friends with a straightedge and a compass. Just one circle with the compass and 5 lines with the straightedge.
Ferdinand von Lindemann was a real German mathematician. In 1882, he proved that pi is not a zero of any polynomial with rational coefficients or a transcendental number.
Transcript
- I learned in high school what geometers discovered long ago:
- [Cueball, holding a compass and straightedge, looks sad.]
- Using only a compass and straightedge, its impossible to construct friends.
add a comment!Discussion
No, the comic is funny because many geometrical theorems prove something along the lines of "With a compass and straightedge you cannot construct..." (e.g. a square and a circle with the same area) If you have knowledge of this type of proof, the humor is that you think he's about to talk about something that is impossible in geometry, but really he's talking about the inapplicability of geometry to real life. This is often a difficulty with nerds and brainy people, they try to apply their theoretical knowledge to human relationships and fail. 75.103.23.206 19:53, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
