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stop doing math

Where Did The 'Stop Doing Math' Meme Originate? Ironic Infographics Warning Against Higher Education Explained

Hatred for math may not be encoded into every 5th grader's mind, but even the most astute of pure math graduate students face their share of mental de-realizing breaks in the midst of their degrees. For many who pivot to such an anti-math stance later in their life, the STOP DOING MATH meme captures the very essence of why the subject feels overly complex and still underutilized in day-to-day life.

STOP DOING CIRCUITS • Wires WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GIVEN NAMES • You wanted to find a DRAIN??? I think you need to check your bathroom • "Transistor-Transistor Logic" BUT I thought transistors DO NOT HAVE LOGIC • "Yes please give me RT0402BRD073K3L/ Please give me STM32F407VGT6" - Statements dreamed up by the utterly Deranged • ADC, AC, VDD, DC, DAC, AVDD, CAD, VCC??? the alphabet has other letters SEE what electrical engineers have been asking you to respect all this time, with all those oscilloscopes and Butterworth filters (This is REAL circuits done by REAL Engineers): V₂ Is R₁ 2 h R3 www R₂ www (3 1₂ SL ???? ??? This black square contains V₁ V₂ THOUSANDS OF TRANSISTORS???? R Rain R 3 R R R ww "Hello do you have some pure sine wave inverter?" Vout STUPID TRIANGLES They have played us for absolute fools


And it doesn't stop at math; newer variations of the meme have diversified the subjects being rallied against in this infographic-style meme format, from logic to soil studies to physics. Here's where this particular meme, one that signs off by insisting that "they" have "played us all for fools," originated.

Where Does The 'Stop Doing Math' Meme Come From?

On April 17th, 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, mem creator Welcome To My Meme Page posted an anti-math graphic to their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (X) pages simultaneously. It's unclear if the posts were born out of frustration for take-home math assignments, but the infographic is pretty clear on what it advocates for.

The reasons listed for why people should stop doing math include the idea that "numbers were not supposed to be given names," and that "years of counting" had led to no "real-world use found for counting higher than your fingers."

STOP DOING MATH • NUMBERS WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GIVEN NAMES • YEARS OF COUNTING yet NO REAL-WORLD USE FOUND for going higher than your FINGERS • Wanted to go higher anyway for a laugh? We had a tool for that: It was called "GUESSING" • "Yes please give me ZERO of something. Please give me INFINITY of it" - Statements dreamed up by the utterly Deranged LOOK at what Mathematicians have been demanding your Respect for all this time, with all the calculators & abacus we built for them (This is REAL Math, done by REAL Mathematicians): ????? ??????? ????????????????? "Hello I would like < apples please" They have played us for absolute fools


The graphics used in the meme are, in order from left to right, the absolute value of the complex Gamma function, a mesh plot of |arctan(z^(-5))|, a compound of five cubes, and the Riemann surface for the function f(z) = √z. It is unclear if these symbols add further weight to the theory that the infographic was drawn up by a frustrated math student, as they may well have been drawn up by a deranged individual with access to a calculator.

How Did The 'STOP DOING MATH' Meme Spread?

The meme was reposted to various websites frequented by nerds, including Reddit, before YouTuber Gianni Matragrano decided to post a dramatic, comedic reading of the video to YouTube.


What Were Some Variations Of The 'STOP DOING MATH' Meme?

The meme clearly struck a nerve with other STEM majors, as variations on the theme appeared across the internet nearly simultaneously the summer of 2020. FunnyJunk user cheshirethejack posted an infographic urging people to "STOP USING LOGIC," the mathematical kind, for a deluge of reasons.

STOP DOING LOGIC ARGUMENTS WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE FORMALIZED • SO MANY RULES yet NO REAL-WORLD USE FOUND for going beyond MODUS PONENS • Wanted to prove things anyway for a laugh? We had a tool for that: It was called "INDUCTION" "Hello, how are Oan+1/¬(an+1 DCn+1) doing? Isn't the weather Vo (Oro +Dvu(Con' (V)}) today?" - Statements dreamed up by the utterly Deranged LOOK at what Logicians have been demanding your Respect for all this time, with all the arguments and languages we built for them (This is REAL Logic, done by REAL Logicians): ????? ??????? ????????????????? ''''You hVv3 to ba logicvl"" They have played us for absolute fools


More variations of the infographic appeared online that summer, including a poster that read, "STOP DOING ENGINEERING," and another that warned against "DOING P-CHEM." Each poster with a line insisting that they had "played us for absolute fools."

STOP ENGINEERING EVERY MACHINE invented after the spoon is USELESS Planes DON'T exist, they're just advanced birds You want to build something? Use your hands, NOT this: THIS is what hides behind modern engineering lies, what truely controls our machines be, dA В dy, EI-µ(x) = |||| 9(x)dx Non-sense letters The Ones with (??????????) many arms All images of machines you see online are fake, they're fooling us Real people believe THIS EXIST -> They have played us for absolute fools STOP DOING P-CHEM • CHEMISTRY is about MIXING THINGS in LAB, not writing EQUATIONS on PAPER!!! = ƏT • Its just SPICY MATH with LETTERS • "Consider it's a ideal gas" - NO ONE IS IDEAL WE ALL HAVE FLAWS THAT MAKE US BEAUTIFUL!!! PCHEM + BEAUTY A@) → A®) • The ONLY chemistry we need is NaCl, not RT Pis = RT In PiA = RT JA Pi Pi • LeTs UsE gReEk LetTErS CoZ wE ARe oUt of REAL ThlnGs LOOK at what they want us to believe chemistry is THIS is what hides behind P-CHEM P.T const C(100%) In *eq,i 30% C A(100) AB-G4 B(100%) NMR (Not ??? MORE Oversized TRIANGLES Motherf*kn TRIANGLES Real) "Hello, what is this substance?" "Oh, its just usr = µ(T,p) + RT In x57" SEE? IT MAKES NO SENSE! They have played us for absolute fools


What Are Some More Examples Of 'STOP DOING MATH' Memes?


STOP DOING CHEMISTRY - Letters represent english NOT ELEMENTS - Wanna hear a kicker??? Organic chemistry has NO ORGANS - ONLY sticks and stones can break my bones so WHY CAN'T I DRINK HYDOXYCHLOROQUINE "Yes I need H20 to survive each day. I need to do cellular respiration" - statements from the utmost privileged LOOK at what Chemists and Chemical "engineers" have been demanding your Respect for all this time, with all of this origami and LEGO pieces we buit for them (This is REAL chemistry done by REAL Chemists) ???? ?????? ??????????? "Hello I would like 3 moles of milk please" They played us like absolute fools made by snr_0714 STOP DOING SOIL SCIENCE • Dirt was not supposed to be given names • Digging in the soil with your bare hands is GROSS • You are only disturbing the worms • TOTAL LACK OF RESPECT for the Earth and the secrets that lie beneath the surface Look at what Soil Scientists have been demanding our attention and respect for G5/3a sity Sand Long T hole in ground ???????? "What type of soil is this?"" "Ah, this is clearly a haplic arenic ferric garlic albeluvicambisol" They have played us for absolute fools Sit STOP PLAYING MUSIC OA is a letter not a sound It's just air vibrating and people argue which vibration is better - what's next? Rating earthquakes? If there's only 12 sounds why is there so many keys in the piano? Jazz? Just play the right notes LOOK at what Musicians have been demanding your Respect for all this time, with all the Xylophones and Theremins we built for them (This is REAL stuff made by REAL Musicians): 7 ????????? Hello, can I please hear C#maj9add13 ??? They have played us for absolute fools STOP DOING CHESS •OPENINGSWERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GIVEN NAMES • YEARS OF PLAYING yet NO REAL-WORLD USE FOUND for using anything than your HORSE • Wanted to use something anyway for a laugh? We had a tool for that: It was called "HOUSE RULES" "Yes please give me e4 of something. Please give me F3 with it" - Statements dreamed up by the utterly Deranged LOOK at what chess players have been demanding your Respect for all this time, with all the boards & pieces we built for them (This is REAL chess, done by REAL chess players ): A A A A A A A A A A ????? ??????? ????????????????? "Hello I would like O |castles please" They have played us for absolute fools STOP DOING PHYSICS S • PARTICLES WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKED AT • YEARS OF BONKERS THEORIES yet NO REAL-WORLD USE FOUND for looking beyond the FIRST ORDER DERIVATIVES • Wanted to build a weirder model for a laugh? We had a tool for that: It was called "EXPERIMENTAL CONJECTURES" "Nice throw Jimmy, the ball really went HO)\v@) = ih iw0)) ! I'm feeling very - + V(a.n) today" - Statements dreamed up by the utterly Deranged LOOK at what Physicists have been demanding your Respect for all this time, with all the labs & computer programs we built for them (This is REAL Physics, done by REAL Phyisicists): FOLDING UNFOLDING ????? ??????? ?????? ?????? uuu"The uncertainty in i They have played us for absolute fools STOP DOING LINGUISTICS WORDS WERE NOT MEANT TO HAVE MEANING • YEARS OF MAKING NOISES yet NO REAL-WORLD USE FOUND for doing more than GRUNTING • Wanted to communicate abstract ideas anyway for a laugh? We had a tool for that: It was called "CRYING" "Yes, this man's e-ROLE is a g-agent" "Yes that plosive should DEVOICE word finally" - Statements dreamed up by the utterly Deranged LOOK at what Linguists have been demanding your Respect for all this time, with all the elicitations and grammaticality checks we did for them (This is REAL Linguistics, done by REAL Linguists) CP VXF(x)>L(J, x) ТР DP T' ????? ???? VP Opast A ranjisgast ??????? ????? "Hello, Like(l, apples) please" They have played us for absolute cretins

For the full history of the STOP DOING MATH meme, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.

Related Memes 3 total

Wordcel slang term and movement meme.

Wordcel / Shape Rotator / Mathcel

Stop Doing Math meme.

Stop Doing Math

woman looking confused surrounded by mathematical equations

Math Lady / Confused Lady

 



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