Frazz by Jef Mallett for October 26, 2022

π has a point: Three POINT one four one five…

I think math is the most fun when it doesn’t have a real impact on your own life. Math is generally the least fun when it’s involved in statistics.

By saving some you can afford the excessively pricey cars.

Maseratis are not exactly known for frugal fuel economy.

Caulfield has an attractive point . .

Especially when they drive several miles to get to the cheaper gas!

Practical application is a great motivator to learning, with understanding.

Spouse will drive across town to get the ‘cheap’ gas, which saves a dollar per tank. Of course it burned more than that getting there…

You can’t use math to make a point unless you actually know how to use it.

I helped my grandson the other night with the classic two trains example. I haven’t done it since I help my daughter 24 years ago, and before that In 1968. So three times in my life I had to use it. As you kids say….BFD

Math for its own sake is almost like an art form. Practically, it can be used to hit a 160m dia. asteroid with an object the aize of a fridge, 11 million kilometers away in space.

Admittedly Caulfield is sharper than the majority of kids his age, but when even a grade school kid can see the nonsense that passes for intelligence in adult behavior then we are in a world of hurt.

[And yeah, I know the strip is drawn by an often critical adult, but the point is still valid.]

Math is indeed more fun when it has a point. That’s why I always liked word problems better than the boring pages of regular old problems. They were actually interesting.

Truth be told, I haven’t seen a long line since the embargo decades ago when there was a shortage and people were buying a gallon or two on the commute to AND from work. That created lines.

Today, we have twice as many cars and ten times as many pumps. No lines.

If owners of cars would calculate with the true costs of driving they’d shop only along obligatory uses of their vehicle, as every detour quickly eats up any savings possible.

Or use a bike. Which is probably Frazz way of grocery runs.

Training your mind to do rigorous quantitative reasoning? What could possibly be the point of that?

I still have to shake my head when I look at the news and see some idiot with an SUV the size of a Manhattan apartment standing in front of a gas pump and complaining about prices. I mean, you just know that the closest that behemoth has ever been to going offroad is running over the curb at the Walmart.

Sure, Republicans may succeed in eliminating democracy in America, but gas prices are high!

That’s the point.

.

And Republican have a sure-fire plan to reduce inflation, which they will reveal…. in about two weeks.

Maybe four.

What does math have to do with his observation?

In my estimation, in Germany about half of all common math equations have one or more points. Mostly . or : (German for * and /)

I like numbers that need a point to write them legible.