pgkobrien
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Dec 21, 2023 11:28 PM
pgkobrien
62407
1167
28
CorgisButtsDriveMeNuts
Math, not even once
HonestCommentFarmer
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: FWD: FWD: FWD: LOL
NomadUniverse
The full punch line is "...he was accused of being part of the Al-Gebra terrorist network and carrying weapons of math instruction."
TheLost1
Was playing with code for TF2 on a plane to kill time. Apparently, it scared people so bad they interrogated me on the plane, and when I landed in Heathrow.... with pew pews. I had to show them what it did and was. Notepad++ is big scary.
DidItForScience
Even if it was some foreign script FUCK YOU LADY AND FLIGHT CREW.
mayorgranitepimp
This story doesn't add up....
testzero
Weapons of Math Instruction
ImperfectDad
Reminds me of NextDoor... or "local news and casual racism".
shivacat
I’ll bet her name was Karen
AyatollahBahloni
Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups ... or in a single Karen.
KyleButNotThatKyle
Well that's irrational.
metalrulercid
The problem is people like that woman are actually listened to instead of just slapped and thrown off the plane.
boxbackknitties
Hey lady: Dif-uck-you!
dhane1222
Youhavinagiraffe
Just to point out the obvious... writing in a foreign language is also a fucking stupid and very racist reason to question someone. The stupid idiot who reported this should be kicked off the flight
opi098514
Suspected of factoring weapons of math destruction.
Disastermaster101
Obviously a karen
tangent
Even if he was writing in a foreign script, it wouldn't mean anything. The lady is a racist. A stupid racist but still a racist.
Edgarflaps
Allah Algebra !!
SometimesIFartWhenIPee
*boom*
MosEisleyPhotography
shyasen
Probably algebra and algebra was founded by Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a Persian scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. So the crazy lady probably assumed anyone who uses algebra is a terrorist. Wait until she learns where alchemy comes from.
DidItForScience
ProppaGanda
Yeah, using Arabic numerals
DidItForScience
I heard he used Latin letters to write his name too.
shivacat
Her: why can’t he use American numbers?
CosplayComet
God I'm sick of this species...
Erumun
the problem is idiots don't face enough backlash for being idiots and they breed like it's going out of style.
CosplayComet
100%. We used to brutally mock ignorance - not stupidity, because if you're genuinely stupid it's not really your fault, but willfully CHOOSING not to seek knowledge and spending your life deliberately being a fucking moron used to be a cause for ridicule and exclusion. We need to get back to that and stop celebrating dipshit-hood.
languex
It}s amazing that she managed to make it to adulthood without the stupid killing her. If they put her brain on the edge of a razor blade, it'd be like putting a pea in the middle of a 6-lane highway.
DavidBrooker
The person's joke is that "algebra" kinda sounds arabic, but that's because algebra is literally arabic.
just4thelolz
Gebra? That harbour town in Klatch?
geoffreyfourmyle
GNU pterry
davej77
Always upvote Pterry
Mercenarity
from 2016: https://www.cnet.com/culture/academic-questioned-by-american-airlines-offcials-for-doing-math-on-plane/
Jimbo64
I knew it was from a while ago.
GravyEducation
A professor I talked to once related a story about getting pulled aside by TSA. He said he taught Calc. They made him solve a calculus problem but apparently picked one that looked complicated but the answer was obvious. Only after he explained why he was able to solve it instantly did they let him go
bamcobra
I’d honestly be surprised if anyone at TSA could differentiate a calculus problem from basic arithmetic.
Kbantar
It's not like it's integral to their job.
euphxenos
I see what you did there, but it's a bit derivative
Metallica93
This happened years ago and there's an entire Reddit comment thread that remains one of the highest-rated ones to date. Makes me laugh every time.
itsthejacket
He had protractors and compasses, weapons of maths intrsuction
Nathanfake
Link et
southoffrance
Here's one... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/rampage/wp/2016/05/07/ivy-league-economist-interrogated-for-doing-math-on-american-airlines-flight/
bigthoughtshappen
I love people who reference shit like we should know and then.. don’t provide a link.
SomeSpanishInquisition
.
ClaudyDonkey
https://search.brave.com/search?q=reddit%20man%20doing.math%20on%20a%20plane&source=ios
OBM1
Brilliant
pettingmycatwhileipoo
This one? https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/4iacmp/ivy_league_economist_ethnically_profiled/
Metallica93
Not that particular one, that I can tell. This was basically top comment with a looooooong chain underneath. Still can't find it :/
ID1746
Probably deleted, for promoting arabic numbers.
Metallica93
Reddit did crack down several times since then. Racists.
pettingmycatwhileipoo
Mentioning weapons of math destruction (stolen from the thread)
bigthoughtshappen
I love it when people reference shit and provide no source for the reference.
southoffrance
I found this... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/rampage/wp/2016/05/07/ivy-league-economist-interrogated-for-doing-math-on-american-airlines-flight/
bigthoughtshappen
Thank you!
Metallica93
I'll get to it when I get to it. Calm your tits. This isn't a news story, lol.
Lulabel73
Don’t worry they’re not happy when you give a reference either. I once linked a news story and was abused beyond belief because the person didn’t like the newspaper company I used. Crazy kids.
bigthoughtshappen
I mean I’m happy when someone actually provides the reference.
Lulabel73
Me too
Metallica93
To be fair, if someone's posting some rag? Yeah, I'll harp on 'em for giving them the clicks. But... a Reddit link? Let me finish work, damn
Lulabel73
You don’t need to click on it. A person is free to google and search for a news source of their choice.
jamiedBreaker
It's also not your job to do their homework. If they cared enough maybe they'd Google it. Or say something like, "hey tried to find this but couldn't, would you mind using more of your precious time to help me out?" instead of that entitled garbage. Rant over, rock on.
rgbRandomizer
al-Jabr is the original name (or part of it anyway).
BaWitda
Meaning to mend (literally to set bones). From bringing different parts to the same side of the equation.
geoffreyfourmyle
Truth! "The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing" is the English title of the book; the term al-Jabr got translated into the "balancing". Massively influential text.
The shortened name of the dude who wrote it, al-Khwarizmi, is where we get "algorithm" from.
rgbRandomizer
I majored in math and remember a professor lamenting, "People say its 'just algebra'... Algebra can be difficult."
viila
Most of the algebra that people run into is in the "trivial" category which can be solved mechanically. I mean, how often have you seen a fifth degree polynomial in the wild, for instance?
BaWitda
Not quite. Jabr is the restoring (literally it means bonesetting). Muqabalah is balancing.
geoffreyfourmyle
If that's the case, there are several Wikipedia articles you'll want to go fix.
BaWitda
Hmm. The article on Algebra has it right. The article on the book is... odd. Jabr isn't a super common word on Arabic, but it's not exactly a super obscure, unknown term, and the book makes it fairly clear what Al-Khwarazmi means by it. It's restoration or mending, meaning to bring disparate parts of an equation together on the same side (where muqabalah, or balancing, means canceling out like terms on both sides).
BaWitda
The footnote in the article does say that jabr is most likely restoration and muqabalah most likely balancing, but the idea that no one knows for sure what they mean is just kind of bizarre.