Death by Mask

The number of people worldwide who have died not of the coronavirus but accidentally or frighteningly because of the face mask, be it in the incorrect way they handle or wear the mask, which leads to breathing difficulty; or old or weak-hearted folks who were shocked by a masked family member, who wanted to pull a scary prank on them.

During this pandemic crisis, which is likely to be higher: death by math or death by mask?

by MathPlus July 04, 2021

Covid-👶

When some high-GDP countries whose low fertility rate is below their mortality rate are offering baby bonus cash gifts to their citizens who give birth during the coronavirus pandemic—the authorities don’t want the plague to prevent their nation from having “corona babies.”

Thanks to Covid-👶, Singaporean families could receive up to $35,000 as Baby Support Grant if they planned to add a new member to their family to help arrest the population decline.

by MathPlus October 11, 2020

No Calculators Allowed

When students’ reliance on a scientific or graphing calculator prevents them from being fluent in performing certain basic operations, such as factorizing a function, finding the zeros of a cubic polynomial, and standardizing a normal distribution from the Statistical Tables—ritually pressing a set of keys often conceals their poor understanding or mastery of these routines.

If only math teachers and tutors would implement the “No Calculators Allowed” rule, students would be manually forced to learn the routine or tedious steps in getting the answer to some intermediate step of a problem.

by MathPlus October 31, 2021

Mathematical Typhoon

A cyclone or hurricane that is named after a famous mathematician—like math, its presence never fails to instill fear in the general population.

Pascal is expected to hit the Philippines by early Monday morning—which happens to be a public holiday—after the mathematical typhoon had caused havoc in southern China.

by MathPlus March 24, 2017

Trumpffiti

Any creative or mean writing, or funny or X-rated drawing, on Donald J. Trump in a public square, which pokes fun at his idiotic and idiosyncratic behaviors; or at his narcissistic, racist, and supremacist tweets.

A sample of Trumpffiti are:
1. 🇺🇸🤥 + 🇨🇳🦠 = 😷x + 💀y. By 1/20/21, x = 24M, y = 400K
2. UNfit 4 President: #NotMyPresident
3. Trump’s crimes: Pussygate (2016), Zelenskygate (2019), Coronagate (2020), Capitolgate (2021)

by MathPlus February 01, 2021

🇸🇬 🔢

Singapore Math in two characters. A mélange of the best math curriculums from the East and the West, which is arguably the catalyst for Singapore students to repeatedly rank top in international comparative studies like PISA and TIMSS.

In emoji, 🇸🇬 🔢 = (🇺🇸 + 🇬🇧 + 🇨🇳 + 🇰🇷 + 🇷🇺 + 🇮🇱) × 🔢—why should Singapore reinvent the wheel when it can steal the best mathematical ideas from others?

by MathPlus December 06, 2020

Mathematical Graffiti

An artist’s lawbreaking pastime, whereby they irreverently paint math-related drawings, formulas, or symbols in forbidden areas or public squares without getting caught by the authorities—the artistic equivalent of a couple illicitly indulging in a quickie with zero public knowledge or suspicion.

Few illegal activities give the mathematical graffiti artist more thrill when working in a pressurized environment, compared to taking part in an annual pressure-free graffiti carnival approved by the authorities.

by MathPlus March 13, 2021