About

2 + 2 = 5, sometimes written as 2+2=5 or two plus two equals five, is a math equation often used to represent the promotion of obvious falsehoods by authoritarian governments and ideologies as a means of intellectual and social control. Additionally, it has been used to illustrate ideas about uncertainty in mathematics, with some arguing that the equation can be correct under specific circumstances.

Origin

On June 8th, 1949, the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell was released. In the book, the authoritarian government asserts various falsehoods that must be accepted by the populace in order to ensure their subservience, including the slogans "war is peace" and "two and two made five."

"In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?"

Spread

On September 30th, 2005, Urban Dictionary^[1] user T. F. submitted an entry for "2 + 2 = 5," referencing the Orwell novel and stating that it "harkens to the Marxist belief that the State is the ultimate truth and individuals with an alternate 'truth' are dissidents."

2020 Twitter Debate

On July 8th, 2020, Twitter user @melvinmperalta posted a comic "about the relationship between '2+2=4' and notions of truth" (shown below).

On July 30th, Twitter user @kareem_carr tweeted that the "correct response" to someone saying "2 + 2 = 5" is to ask "What are your definitions and axioms?" (shown below).

That day, author James Lindsay posted a screenshot of the tweet on Twitter, ^[5]which mocked it as an "Orwellian." The same day, he posted an image macro of another tweet^[6] by Carr juxtaposed next to a collapsed bridge (shown below).

On August 1st, @kareem_carr^[2] posted a Twitter thread clarifying her views on the equation, stating "as a former mathematician, I have things to say." On August 3rd, Twitter user @wtgowers^[3] posted a similar thread, also claiming to come from the perspective of a mathematician.

On August 2nd, Twitter^[4] user @Noahpinion tweeted "2+2=3."

Search Interest

External References