# Mathematics cartoon: help in finding it? (Easy verbal description.) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mathematics-cartoon-help-in-finding-it-easy-verbal-description/617809 "2012-04-04T13:54:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mathematics-cartoon-help-in-finding-it-easy-verbal-description/617809/1 "2012-04-04T13:54:40Z")
I recall this cartoon often: Two men standing in front of huge blackboard. Long string of mathematics symbols; kind of spiky bubble, like “burst” indicator in comics, and written in the bubble “Then a Miracle Occurs”; another string of mathematics symbols; ending with equal sin and a string of symbols. One guy, with a pointer to the “Then a Miracle…” says “I think your problem is right here.” Could be _New Yorker_ from years back. Before I find out if they even have a usable index, I was wonder if anyone could nail it. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mathematics-cartoon-help-in-finding-it-easy-verbal-description/617809/2 "2012-04-04T14:04:45Z")
What do you need? The cartoon, which is the first choice when you google image “then a miracle occurs”? Google has this nifty new option called “images” which actually works almost as well as SDMB. The signature “S. Harris” quite legible on it? The picture (obvious ripoff) of a pair of bugs and the algorithm flowchart with “then a miracle occurs” and caption “this needs a little work” which I’m sure I saw in a computer trade magazine add too…? ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mathematics-cartoon-help-in-finding-it-easy-verbal-description/617809/3 "2012-04-04T14:05:38Z")
It’s well-known enough, so just googling ‘then a miracle occurs’ brings up (among others) [this flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpallan/4633000725/), which also lists the origin as The American Scientist, 1977, by one Sidney Harris. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mathematics-cartoon-help-in-finding-it-easy-verbal-description/617809/4 "2012-04-04T14:06:12Z")
[Far Side cartoon.](http://avionod.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/and-then-a-miracle-happens/) ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mathematics-cartoon-help-in-finding-it-easy-verbal-description/617809/5 "2012-04-04T14:07:32Z")
> **[Science Cartoons Plus -- The Cartoons of S. Harris](http://www.sciencecartoonsplus.com/pages/gallery.php)** > > The cartoons of S. Harris ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mathematics-cartoon-help-in-finding-it-easy-verbal-description/617809/6 "2012-04-04T14:09:22Z")
See also: [the business plan of the Underpants Gnomes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gnomes_plan.png). The middle bit of any plan is often the tricky part. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mathematics-cartoon-help-in-finding-it-easy-verbal-description/617809/7 "2012-04-04T15:20:50Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > [Far Side cartoon.](http://avionod.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/and-then-a-miracle-happens/) That’s the same cartoon. And it’s not the Far Side. It’s even signed S. Harris.