Spiked Math: Why did the chicken cross the road?

Greg Bernhardt

Credits to the internet for this joke.

I was trying to come up with an original Intermediate Value Theorem joke/comic, but couldn't immediately think of anything and really need to finish some other work! Anyways, enjoy this old joke!


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Topher925

I don't get it.

rasmhop

The question "why did the chicken cross the road?" is usually asking for the motivation of the chicken, but in this case it is asking for an argument why it must have crossed the road. It is a question like "why are there infinitely many primes?" or "why is the function differentiable?". Obviously the argument is a simple appeal to the intermediate value theorem (the chicken's position starts out below the road, and ends above it, so at some point its position must have been equal to the road's if it can't teleport).

arivero

In a _chemistry_ exam, I was denied score in an answer because I forget to invoke the IVT; I had argued, sucessfully, that the chicken was in one side of the road at the start of the reaction and in the other side at the end, but I did not tell explicitly that at some time between, it was crossing the road.

Whovian

What? I could understand getting partial credit for the question, but counting the solution as completely incorrect?