Editing 3180: Apples

{{comic
| number    = 3180
| date      = December 12, 2025
| title     = Apples
| image     = apples_2x.png
| imagesize = 263x364px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = The experimental math department's budget is under scrutiny for how much they've been spending on trains leaving Chicago at 9:00pm traveling at 45 mph.
}}

==Explanation==

Three "experimental mathematicians" have experimentally confirmed the answer to a mathematical query that might normally {{w|word problem (mathematics education)|be described}} to an elementary school class: "If [[Cueball]] has seven apples and [[Hairbun]] has five, how many apples are there in total?" With everyone having literally brought together their stated number of apples, Cueball counts the two groups of apples and states that the total is twelve. [[Blondie]] is very excited that this real world demonstration has perfect agreement with some presupposed theory.

The root of the joke is the conflation of mathematics (usually shortened to "math" in north america, but "maths" in the UK and elsewhere), an abstract framework, with sciences like physics or chemistry that describe real world phenomena. In the context of the comic, because most sciences have both theoretical experimental wings, mathematics should as well with a humorous example of what "experimental mathematics" would look like. In this case Cueball and Hairbun are literally "testing" the concept of addition by reenacting a word problem in a mathematics textbook. This physical experiment itself is humorous because there is no difference between adding groups of apples or groups of {{w|Tally marks|hash marks}} on a piece of paper, but the characters would likely consider the latter to be "theoretical". 

A different take on the joke is that mathematics is inherently experimental, but the "experiments" take the form of rigorously proving concepts, including something as basic as addition, {{w|Foundations of mathematics|from first principles}}. From this angle one would find humor in the fact that Cueball et al are testing math with physical objects instead of referring to the established proofs. 

The irony is that many branches of mathematics '''are''' experimental in the manner depicted in the cartoon. Children are often taught that the angles of a triangle sum to 180 degrees by tearing off the points of a paper triangle and using them to construct a straight line. Computer Science can also be considered "experimental mathematics", especially at the circuit level where binary logic can be physically used to perform mathematical computation. 

The title text confirms the comic's point of experimentally reenacting mathematics textbook word problems by reference to the "Two Trains Problem", a popular question to teach students how to solve {{w|System of equations|simultaneous equations}}. The setup involves two trains, some distance apart, each leaving their origin at a specific time and moving towards each other at a specific speed. The question posed to the reader is something like what time the two trains will meet. This problem is so common that it became a pre-internet meme, with many references in popular culture so Randall only has to provide the setup ("a train departs Chicago at 9pm traveling at 45mph") to be reasonably sure that the reader will get what he's talking about. (Note, the motion of trains would normally be a physics problem, but the Two Trains word problem is devoid of details that would make it applicable to the field of classical mechanics, either classroom or practical.) 

Unlike apples, hiring chartering real life trains to leave both Chicago and another city to test that class of word problem would present enormous expense to the experimental mathematics department. This expense again implies that the experimental mathematics department is not content with any abstraction, such as using model trains, and must test the word problems as written.

==Transcript==
:[Hairbun and Cueball stand at the left of the panel. Blondie stands at the right. Between them are two piles of apples, one of seven apples (stacked four on the bottom, two in the middle row, and one on top) and the other of five apples (stacked three on the bottom, and two on top).They are all looking at the apples but Blondie has her arms raised high above her head.]
:Cueball: Okay, with my seven apples added to your five, we have ... let's see ... twelve apples!
:Blondie: Incredible!
:Blondie: Perfect agreement with the theory!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Experimental mathematicians


{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Food]]