Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for February 18, 2009

Yep, Hobbes and I share math skills…

margueritem, I’m unclear. Are you saying both your and Hobbes’ math skills are imaginary or instinctive?

I see an “F” in Calvin’s future and a full inquiry into a tiger’s instinct.

TheSpleen says:

margueritem, I’m unclear. Are you saying both your and Hobbes’ math skills are imaginary or instinctive?

~They’re both non exsistant.

Reading these comments prove that it really is true - 3 out of every two people are bad at maths….

Tiger, tiger, teaching math, Leads Calvin down the garden path. Unnecessary obfuscation Can only hinder education.

(Thought I’d beat Warthog to it, for a change.)

I thought Calvin would be quite good with imaginary numbers.

Isn’t ‘i’ the imaginary number? That’s a letter…now I’m confused.

Calvin he’s putting you on and you’re falling for it. Just do your own homework.

4deerinmyyard, cleokaya: Oh, Calvin will get the F–but he’ll then complain that math is a religion (and complain about it being officially promulgated in schools), a point on which Hobbes will be supportive.

Don’t you just love Hobbes expression in the last panel?

i = square root of -1.

I really like this one… 9+4… calculus…

Oh you proud little Hobbes. You’re a master of thinkology.

ahhh, grade school. They succeed when so well grounded in the fundamental R’s: readin’. ‘ritin’, and ‘rithmatic …

wouldn’t it be funny, if after all of hobbes’ mathematical gyrations, he still came up with the correct answer?

Unclear? Clear is my favorite color!

What happens when Calvin finds out that Hobbes instincts are not exactly up-to-the-mark? Look at the fright Calvin gets in panel 3 when Hobbes mentions imaginary numbers. The ‘i’ always gave me the shivers too. I could never comprehend what place imagination had in the science of mathematics. It might as well have been art.

BirishB says:

ahhh, grade school. They succeed when so well grounded in the fundamental R’s: readin’. ‘ritin’, and ‘rithmatic …

But not too much on spelling.

CALCULUS to figure out 9 + 4. Oh hobbes oh hobbes.

calvin is more into life skills rather than school book learning

Those who have studied Gödel’s theorem will have encountered Supernatural Numbers. Gödel showed that the axioms, proofs and theorems of Typographical Number Theory could be mapped to integers. He proved that natural numbers could not produce a true theorem he constructed (involving self reference since the theorems were about numbers - now mapped to theorems). Supernatural numbers were introduced to make these self referential theorems reachable, like Imaginary numbers did for Reals. Of course, the new set of Natural plus Supernatural integers could be Gödelized the same way, so the result stands.

Where’s Charlie Epps when you need him?

margueritem says:

TheSpleen says:

margueritem, I’m unclear. Are you saying both your and Hobbes’ math skills are imaginary or instinctive?

They’re both non exsistant….. Marg, I was thinking they were instinctively imaginary, like mine ;=/

BlackKnight15 says: Reading these comments prove that it really is true - 3 out of every two people are bad at maths……… and the 4th one?

ultraman says: wouldn’t it be funny, if after all of hobbes’ mathematical gyrations, he still came up with the correct answer?……. I am sure he will, ultraman

MISTER WATTERSON:PLEASE COME BACK! WE MISS YOU, CALVIN, HOBBES….and THE INFAMOUS SNOWMEN OF THE INNER PSYCHE.

imaginary numbers aren’t all that they are cracked up to be. there is no eleventeen or thirty-twelve, just i.

OOps!! they forgot X!!

The reality of it all is that everything is imaginary. Do the math. It all adds up.

Tigers are like that…I nominate Hobbes to handle the stimulus package!

Imaginary numbers are just that, imaginary. Stuart Gatham’s rant just serves to illustrate mankind’s efforts to explain what he can’t; that God is the Creator and there are some things that just can’t BE explained, even with imaginary numbers. BTW I STILL love Hobbes’ “fuzzy math”! <:-)

1 Red, in Hobbes case, wouldn’t that be ‘furry’ math? :)

green_engineer says:

“I thought Calvin would be quite good with imaginary numbers.

“Isn’t ‘i’ the imaginary number? That’s a letter…now I’m confused.”

g-engineer: you should know by now that mathematicians never have enough numbers (or variables) so they always make up more as they go along… ;)

@JonD17, the 4th one is a mathematician, of which there are two types: those who can count, and those who can’t.

#1 redskins fan says:

“Imaginary numbers are just that, imaginary.”

Yes, but they still work, so they can’t be much more imaginary than, say, -1. Who ever saw -1 dollar, or put it in his or her wallet? (Credit cards don’t count!)

To Stuart Gathman I can only say “Huh?” To Hobbes, “Right on ”

Sorry, the mathematician is not my subject. I am not very good on the mathematician, anyway. Stuart Gatham’s comment is waaay toooo complicated! HUH?

I think Hobbs is related to some goober I had as a math teacher when I was in grade school. Made perfect sense then. Huh?

i love Hobbes face in the 2nd and last panels! Calvin should stop using Hobbes “math” and start doing his own homework! btw Calvin the answer is 13 hopefully evryone else posting comments on here does…if they dont…well then…i only have one thing to say to them:…go back 2 school!and if u cant even do math how can u read write and type?

Instead of asking Hobbes for help with his math homework, Calvin needs to ask Spaceman Spiff. I’m sure he has run into various types of math in his travels across the known (and unknown) universe.

I could be wrong, but I think that Stuart Gathman’s hypothoses (sp?) is a bit of a spoof, to prove that nothing from nothing is still nothing. (credits to Billy Preston)

TheDoctor(whatever ur name is) i agree!!!!

midiranger-yes, just keep all the lollipops away as you’re calculating the problem using imaginary numbers like $-1 in your wallet. In DC, that’s the sure sign of a pickpocket,”Bmonk”! <:-)

It’s a shame that mathematicians who obviously have no imagination had to invent an imaginary number just to show the world that they had some.

Go Hobbes!

Just to prove that supernatural numbers really do exist, here’s what wikipedia has to say about them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural_numbers

Oy oy oy!

Stuart Gathman!!! As punishment for bringing up Gödel in a comment about a comic strip, I hereby hex thee. May all the radiators in your particular corner of hell go “Thrump!”. (My thanks to Mr. Thurber for a particularly apropos quote.)

For clarity and accuracy, I also prefer Mr. Hofstadter’s explanation of Gödel’s theorem to your own, just so you know.

This seems all so irrationally complex, me, I vote for surreal numbers like in Dali’s clocks!

Numbers don’t lie; but mathematicians and statisticians sure do …

Calvin is screwed if Hobbes is his math tutor.

Hobbes’ definitely got a french brain for his maths…

margueritem says: Yep, Hobbes and I share math skills…

I believe I too have Hobbes math skills…

Poor Clavin, I don’t think he knows Hobbes is messing with his head.

Should be an eleventeen. Fits the already established pattern.

calvins face in the 3rd panel looks like me when they say math. love how hobbes is so smart and proud of himself.

@Stuart, I’d heard of inaccessible cardinals (A poet-mathematician friend claims they are the Cardinals for whom even the Pope doesn’t have phone numbers), but not the supernaturals, nor superreals, etc. Thanks!

wow hobbes is so smart XD

maybe hobbes didn’t go to math school, but it seems that he went to LAW school

I think that I finally understand the Economic Stimulus Plan now! Thanks Hobbes!

eleventeen…funny

ARC

that’s why I never got an A in math!! imaginary numbers!!!! gosh I always forgot about those!!!

Hobbs neglects to tell Calvin of the recent discovery of a previously unknown whole number between five and six. Many of my former students were well aware of the existence of this number and as a result, their answers were often different from mine ;-)

Making things complicated

You All know the answer right. The answer is D. :D

Making simple things complicated

The square root of -1 is i, which is an imaginary number

Uh calvin, this is a hint : start with 1 ends with 3