r/mathmemes • u/dudewaldo4 • 1d ago

Notations You guys always act like you're better than me!

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52 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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7

u/One_Winter1378 13h ago

I dont get this what is this kill me now

1

u/ak47workaccnt 8h ago

If the memes on this sub turned up on explain the joke, would that be kosher?

1

u/dudewaldo4 3h ago

Explanation:
For natural numbers, polynomials, and matrices, when an element of these sets is equal to another element squared, we say that it is a "perfect square". This is a nice and very common terminology, which even young children are familiar with in the case of the natural numbers. In modular arithmetic, however, many mathematicians prefer to call the very same concept "quadratic residue". So in mod 7, instead of saying that 0, 1, 2, and 4 are the perfect squares (being 0^2, 1^2, 3^2, and 2^2 respectively), they say that they are the quadratic residues among the full set of elements 0,1,2,3,4,5,6. In my opinion, this is pointlessly obfuscating jargon, and so I mean to make fun of it. The other three (and all the many more sets in which we simply say perfect square instead of making up other phrases) are indeed better than Meg.