Most Underrated Math Joke Ever
January 2, 2011 at 11:36 am 5 comments
I believe the following joke is the most underrated, because I was nearly booed off stage when I told it during a “Math Joke Hour” at the 2009 NCTM Annual Meeting in Washington, DC:
What’s the difference between a math PhD and a large pizza?
The pizza can feed a family of four.
But perhaps the most underappreciated is the following joke pair, which unfortunately can’t be told in many situations:
Did you hear about the constipated mathematician?
He worked it out with a pencil.What kind of pencil?
A #2 pencil, of course.
Got some that you think deserve more credit but get less than either of these? I’d love to hear about them.
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Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: joke, pencil, PhD, pizza, underrated.
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Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks 
1.
Curiosa Esoterica | August 20, 2011 at 4:53 pm
I loved the pencil joke. And so did my 11 year old daughter. I found your site looking for jokes to share with her super-cool math teacher. Keep up the good work!!!
2.
venneblock | August 21, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Glad you like it. Hope your daughter’s teacher likes the jokes, too!
3.
me | February 21, 2013 at 5:45 am
Nothing beats ex refusing to integrate because “it doesn’t make a difference.”
4.
venneblock | February 21, 2013 at 8:08 am
An oldie but goodie, to be sure. For those who don’t know the full joke, it goes like this:
The natural log ln(x) sees the exponential function ex crying and asks, “What’s wrong?”
ex replies “I’m so lonely!”
ln(x) says, “Well, you should go integrate yourself into the crowd!”
But ex cries, “Why? It won’t make a difference!”
I must politely disagree. I wouldn’t classify this joke as underrated… in fact, it may be the most ubiquitous calculus joke on the web. And personally, I think it’s a terrible joke. (Though my opinion of the joke may be clouded by how many times I’ve heard it told.)
5.
Dumbass | October 6, 2021 at 6:30 pm
Well I heard this joke while I was a young and impressionable high schooler. Then one day I was constipated. Struggling with what to do, this joke sadly came to mind. After 45 excruciating minutes and lots of paper, I demonstrated his method could expanded to a ball point pen. I graduated as an engineer. I recommend an enema.