• ComradeKhoumrag@infosec.pub
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      The math looks perfectly fine. But when people phrase “half of a quarter” I think they have (1/2)*(1/4) in mind, instead of 0.25/0.5

      • apotheotic (she/her)@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        7 months ago

        But this isn’t “half of a quarter” this is “the reciprocal of a half, of a quarter”

        Half of a quarter is 0.25/2 or 0.25*1/2

        • ComradeKhoumrag@infosec.pub
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          7 months ago

          I know, but to me this meme doesn’t make sense to me unless I assume the person reading the math Expression is interpreting its real world application.

          25 / 5 = 5 and nobodies head exploded. That’s just evaluating a math Expression. .25 / .5 = .5 is the same. It’s not a “my brain can’t comprehend how to evaluate expressions” as the meme suggests.

          However, if someone who doesnt do much algebra thought to themselves “I need half of a quarter”, then I could understand why their brain might “hurt” as the meme suggests, for a similar reason why adding 20 degree Celsius water to 20 degree Celsius water doesn’t make 40 degree Celsius wate

          I’m probably reading into it too much, but the meme just doesn’t feel like a “mind fuck that keeps me up at night”. I’m looking for reasons to try and explain it, but it’s just a math expression at the end of the day

          • blindsight@beehaw.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            7 months ago

            I think you nailed the confusion in this meme.

            To simplify: it’s confusing that ½ = 0.5, but 1/2 ≠ 1/0.5

          • apotheotic (she/her)@beehaw.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            7 months ago

            I think the meme is an exaggeration of the situation for comedic effect. It just looks silly at first glance, I don’t believe the OP is kept up at night by this, and is rather making a remark about how it doesn’t instantly feel intuitive as a result (to use the 20 Celsius water example, its the same kind of momentary “wtf?” as 40 Celsius water not being twice as hot as 20 Celsius water. After a moment you remember “oh derp yeah we’re missing 273.15 kelvin in this picture lol”)