# Mysterious Equations in Childrens TV Program

1. Jan 30, 2012

### Mako Ruu

I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for this.

But I was watching a cartoon with my niece the other day. And I saw that in the background one of the characters was doing some mathematical equations on a black board. And I noticed some jargen that didn't make sense.

I thought nothing of it, until I saw it again in a later episode.

Is there any legitimacy to the equations? If so, what do they mean or represent?

I noticed in one equation a symbol from Euclidean Geometry.

I'm pretty sure it's just the animators throwing something in the show to make the world seem deeper.

2. Jan 30, 2012

### cepheid

Staff Emeritus
The $\int$ symbol is the symbol for an integral -- an operation from calculus.

The $\sum$ symbol represents a summation, in this case one with an infinite number of terms.

These are both operators that are supposed to ACT on something, but in this case there is nothing written to the right of them to act on. So the symbols are real but they are not being applied in a meaningful way here, just thrown in randomly.

$\nabla$ is a gradient operator, also from calculus.

3. Jan 30, 2012

### HallsofIvy

Staff Emeritus
"n= 0" is the only equation on the board. The rest are just disjointed mathematical symbols.

4. Jan 31, 2012

### Mako Ruu

That's what I had originally thought. Some clever artist surfed wiki and found some interesting looking symbols to throw in there for depth.

Thank you very much for your posts.

5. Feb 2, 2012

### genericusrnme

Yep
That stuff always annoys me.
Then again, I usually assume that most people know what calculus is or at least have some kind of intuitive feel of what $\frac{df}{dx}$ means.. I'm still always shocked when I hear people say that they aren't good at maths :(

Also, that second equation doesn't make much sense..
Assuming D is a scalar function $\nabla D$ is a vector and Eu is a directed line segment or a vector, division by a vector is nonsense.

They shouldn't be teaching this to todays youth!
(Or todays neckbeards who also watch it)

6. Feb 2, 2012

### Moonbear

Staff Emeritus
Most? Relatively few people learn calculus, at least in the US. It's not required for high school graduation, so usually only honors studentsvand those college-bound for science or math majors take it. Many don't take any more than algebra 2, even when college-bound.

7. Feb 2, 2012

### DaveC426913

They're not. It's a cartoon.

They're no more "teaching" math than they are "teaching" that talking ponies can juggle plates and wear pink bows.

8. Feb 2, 2012

### DMTMH

I'm a brony, so I've seen every episode of this show at least once. Ever since I first got into it, I wondered about what was going on teaching complicated math that didn't seem to mean anything to ponies who seemed to be the same age as third graders. Now I know.

9. Feb 2, 2012

### DaveC426913

I could have lived a full and complete life without ever having found out what that is. :tongue2:

10. Feb 2, 2012

### Pythagorean

I told my girlfriend she couldn't have my baby unless she took calculus

11. Feb 2, 2012

### Ivan Seeking

Staff Emeritus
If you ask me, the people who made the teletubbies were taking LSD.

Uh oh!

12. Feb 2, 2012

### jhae2.718

Wait...you mean they can't?!

13. Feb 2, 2012

### Pythagorean

Ponies that talk can do all kinds of things

14. Feb 2, 2012

### QuarkCharmer

More importantly, why is this childrens-show pony smoking?

Also, you raise a good question about the general awareness of calculus. I wonder what percentage of the population are even aware of what the topic is, other than "some math junk".

15. Feb 3, 2012

### genericusrnme

Dude, I'd dump my girlfriend right there and then if she couldn't even drop and give me 20 derivatives of Cos(x)
That's if I had one of course :uhh:

16. Feb 3, 2012

### wukunlin

it is also unhealthy to write with a chalk in your mouth

17. Feb 3, 2012

### Pythagorean

Pretty sure it's a doobie. How else could it wear that gettup?

18. Feb 3, 2012

### cepheid

Staff Emeritus
LOL, maybe this thread should be retitled: Equations in Mysterious Children's TV Program.

19. Feb 3, 2012

### Mako Ruu

@genericusrnme - It was just a TV show. As I stated in my original post, I was watching it with my niece and just thought it odd.

@Moonbear - Only in public high schools. All the good schools require calculus to graduate.

@DMTMH - Welcome to the herd.

@DaveC426913 - LolDave.

@Pythagorean - My we inquire as to what her reply was?

@QuarkCharmer - It's a piece of chalk, friendo.

@cepheid - I see what you did there...

Even though everyone answered my questions so well, (and I thank you for it), I think that someone should ask a mod to lock this thread due to the **** storm it's created.

20. Feb 3, 2012

### DaveC426913

Don't worry about it. It's not uncommon for threads to get answered in the first post or two but remain open due to being entertaining, even if they start to drift off-topic. This one falls in the category of 'not hurting anyone'.