# Math says... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 2, 2011, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063 "2011-06-02T06:40:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/1 "2011-06-02T06:40:15Z")
I’m intrigued by the topics legitimate mathematicians and scientists decide to research/calculate so I turned it into a game. Follow my lead (doesn’t have to be math, but it has to be reasonably legit - not a snark about religion or pseudo science). Math says… [you can’t have more than 150 friends](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number). Math says… [if vampires ever existed they would quickly take over the world](http://io9.com/5241252/physicists-prove-that-vampires-could-not-exist). (right forum?) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/2 "2011-06-02T13:42:26Z")
The vampire theory is arguing from a false premise (or two). Vampire stories and legends typically don’t say “anyone bitten by a vampire becomes a vampire” or even “vampires kill every single person they feed on”. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/3 "2011-06-02T13:53:58Z")
Math says is suck at math. (according to my G.P.A.) ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/4 "2011-06-02T19:23:59Z")
Math says 2=1 ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/5 "2011-06-02T19:57:17Z")
I can mathematically prove that I am the Queen of England. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/6 "2011-06-02T20:10:57Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Math says… [you can’t have more than 150 friends](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number). Sounds like Facebook would totally blow Dunbar’s mind. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/7 "2011-06-02T22:48:56Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Math says 2=1 More generally, math says for any a, b, a=b. Also 2 + 2 = 5. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/8 "2011-06-03T00:48:54Z")
Math says that most people have more than the average number of legs. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/9 "2011-06-03T02:05:57Z")
The 150 friends thing isn’t really math at all, it’s some form of psychology or sociology. Although having been a math major myself, it seems like a reasonable prediction for the math-oriented 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/10 "2011-06-03T03:27:52Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Sounds like Facebook would totally blow Dunbar’s mind. Nobody interacts with all of their online friends in equal amounts. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/11 "2011-06-03T03:33:33Z")
I’m deeply disappointed in all of you. ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/12 "2011-06-03T06:38:12Z")
Math says it still sounds SO WEIRD to me when I hear/see people saying “math” instead of “maths”. For some reason it’s one American useage I can’t get used to. Sounds like someone is talking with a speech impediment, or just haven’t finished their thought. Or all of mathematics is being reduced to one singular math. A tiny sliver of math. Just one math calorie. I can’t explain why it sounds so weird to me. Maybe you can do the maths and let me know. And while I’m here, do you really need the OF in 'off of". I can’t get my head around it. Get off OF something? Why not just get off it? Where is the ‘of’ happening when you’re getting off a thing? Gah! ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/13 "2011-06-03T12:25:42Z")
> [@Monkey\_Chews](#): > > Math says it still sounds SO WEIRD to me when I hear/see people saying “math” instead of “maths”. For some reason it’s one American useage I can’t get used to. Sounds like someone is talking with a speech impediment, or just haven’t finished their thought. Or all of mathematics is being reduced to one singular math. A tiny sliver of math. Just one math calorie. I can’t explain why it sounds so weird to me. Maybe you can do the maths and let me know. We’re very efficient here in the States. The nano-seconds we save by not pronouncing that “s” have made us the undisputed superpower of the world, and we always will be as long as we keep pronouncing it that way. Same reason we dropped the “d” off of our pronunciation of “z”. ---
**Author:** ![Haunted\_Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/14 "2011-06-03T19:55:23Z")
Math says… [There will always be constellations in a star-filled sky. Also, that book \*The Bible Code \*was BS.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsey_theory) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-says/584063/15 "2011-06-03T20:34:53Z")
> [@GoodOmens](#): > > We’re very efficient here in the States. The nano-seconds we save by not pronouncing that “s” have made us the undisputed superpower of the world, and we always will be as long as we keep pronouncing it that way. > > Same reason we dropped the “d” off of our pronunciation of “z”. And the resources we saved by not using an extra u in colour, flavour, honour, humour, labour, neighbour, and rumour? That’s what we used to land on the moon.