Math Joke Series

Back when the internet was young, the primary users were its builders, math and tech-oriented academics spread around the country.

As a result, math jokes have an elemental role in the history of the internet.

From the earliest Usenet threads to the techiest subreddits, geeky math jokes — some implicit swipes at less-pure disciplines, other puns or plays on words of different concepts — have been a major part of the modern history of math. What's more, these japes also have the effect of making those who didn't get the joke to look into what makes it funny, teaching people some of the more obscure concepts. Here are just a few of the best ones. Where necessary, we'll do the unthinkable and the tacky and explain the joke.

This is Part 1 of the Math Joke Series.

JOKE #1

Three statisticians go out hunting together. After a while they spot a solitary rabbit. The first statistician takes aim and overshoots. The second aims and undershoots. The third shouts out "We got him!"

JOKE #2

Two random variables were talking in a bar. They thought they were being discrete but I heard their chatter continuously.

Explanation: When you roll a die, you either get a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. Since there are a finite number of possibilities, the statistic involved is called a discrete random variable. When you select any real number from between 0 and 1, there are an infinite number of possible draws. The statistic involved is called a continuous random variable.

JOKE #3

There was a statistician that drowned crossing a river... It was 3 feet deep on average.

JOKE #4

Write the expression for the volume of a thick crust pizza with height "a" and radius "z".

Explanation: The formula for volume is π·(radius)2·(height). In this case, pi·z·z·a.

JOKE #5

A: "What is the integral of 1/cabin?"

B: "log cabin."

A: "Nope, houseboat--you forgot the C."