History Main / EEqualsMCHammer

* The blackboard in Cheerilee's classroom in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' features what some viewers have identified as high-school level physics formulas. Everything else points to the students being more like elementary school kids.

*** And early in the single-player game, a wall in one of Ratman's [[RoomFullOfCrazy Rooms Full of Crazy]] shows a cat jumping (or perhaps tunneling?) out of a box, along with various UsefulNotes/QuantumPhysics equations, a reference to the SchrodingersCat thought experiment that was played with in the tie-in ''Lab Rat'' comic.

** This is more of a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], however. Most if not all the terms he uses are rather appropriate. He calls the Players insignificant by referring them as yoctograms, which Joshua explains that it means they are "on the atomic level" to him, and he also uses the trigonometric mnemomic "Some Old Horses Can Always Hear Their Owners Approach" [[spoiler: to hint he knows the identity of Joshua as Shibuya's Composer]]

* In the 2000 remake of ''Film/{{Bedazzled 2000}}'', according to a blackboard in the background, a schoolteacher (Elizabeth Hurley) has assigned her students to prove Fermat's Last Theorem as homework. Of course, the schoolteacher was actually ''the devil'' and all of these scenes in-between wishes were of her intentionally screwing up the lives of other people.

* In a chapter of ''{{Pluto}}'' by NaokiUrasawa, we see [[spoiler:Atom]] to write on a wall a '''huge''' quantity of equations. While they are probabily correct (the notation is correct, for instance and any single expression makes sense), it is '''not probable''' that they are ''"the formula of the [[spoiler:anti-proton bomb]]"'': some are mathematical definitions, or Fourier tranforms, other appears to be basic equations of quantum physics, but surely not a project of bomb.

** In the new (sixth) season, in the body-swapping episode, when Bumblegum Tate has worked out a solution to their body-swapping problem, there is actually a ''correct'' and ''reasonably rigorous proof'' on their floating holographic blackboard.

* Abused by ''DextersLaboratory''.

* In "ATrailerForEveryAcademyAwardWinningMovieEver", a parody of OscarBait movies, InspirationallyDisadvantaged Guy's whiteboard is filled with mathematical scribblings, and an English Lit variant appears on the blackboard in Latin-American Teenager’s classroom.

* In ''SchoolOfRock'', Jack Black's character writes E=mc[--[[superscript:2]]--] on the board while pretending to teach the children something. Played with slightly in that he is totally clueless about teaching and this was presumably the only vaguely mathematical formula he could remember, and the school principal doesn't bat an eyelid when she walks into the room, even though the children are preteens.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exji-VRaqwQ#t=3m45s One segment]][[note]]It's at 43:28 in the ''AMV Hell 4''[[/note]] for FanFic/AMVHell focused on a slow crawl across a blackboard covered with math equations in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. Halfway through the piece, we hear the Kevin Spacey in ''SupermanReturns'' "WRONG!", and as the music is swapped out for KingMissile's "Equivalencies", all the errors on the board are pointed out with red marker.
** One of the problems is 9ab[--[[superscript:3]]--]x(-2/3* ab[--[[superscript:2]]--])[--[[superscript:3]]--] = 9abx(-8/27* a[--[[superscript:6]]--]* b³), when it should be 9ab[--[[superscript:3]]--]x(-8/27* a[--[[superscript:3]]--]* b[--[[superscript:6]]--]).
** Humorously, the segment also points out that although one solution does several things wrong, it ends up at the right answer anyway.

** Which, unfortunately, is not to say they don't make mistakes. While the math is often correct, much of the equations and anaylizi Charlie Epps uses often are not correctly called for in the situation, or, while coming to the correct conclusion, make the work a bit more difficult then it could have been.

** (Not really) justified in that the teacher seems to be their history teacher. At least he's never seen talking about anything else than Second Impact...
** Makes sense, since in Japanese high schools the children stay in one room all day while different teachers come in and out, it's quite possible that their math teacher just left without erasing the board.

* In ''KoreWaZombieDesuka'', the protagonist makes the mistake of asking the resident "genius" to explain a math problem from the beginning. A few hours later: "...Spiral galaxies spin like this, kind of like a top. You need a string to spin it, and that's where string theory comes from. Oh, right. I want to touch on super string theory too..."
** Later on, after asking how soup could be used to destroy monsters (it makes sense in context), they are given a lengthy off-screen explanation concluding with "I can't answer any of your questions though. I don't understand the super string theory stuff either."

* [[http://xkcd.com/385/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip includes an integral without a variable of integration, as part of a clearly erroneous equation -- but in this case the error is [[IncrediblyLamePun integral]] (sorry) to the punchline.

** The second season opening is, if anything, worse.

** Everyone mixes up [[InsistentTeminology complicated and complex.]] Complex means having multiple parts, complicated means puzzling. Yes, I'm a GrammarNazi.

* University of Oklahoma chemistry professor Donna Nelson serves as the science consultant for ''BreakingBad'', so the chemistry Walter teaches his high school class is accurate. They intentionally change some of the steps for making methamphetamine so that viewers don't learn how to make meth from the show.

* An old Sidney Harris [[http://marklolson.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/sidney-harris-cartoon-a-miracle-occurs-here.gif?w=300&h=364 cartoon]] {{lampshades}} this one: two scientists are standing in front of a blackboard full of equations. Toward the bottom right of the board, the chaos of integrals, summations, and other mathematical gobbledygook suddenly ends with "and then a miracle occurs" and an answer. The caption reads "You need to be more explicit here in step two."

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', there are posters around that list paradoxes in the event of a [[AIIsACrapshoot rogue AI.]] One of the listed paradoxes is "Does a set of all sets contain itself?" [[note]]This is clearly based on Russell's Paradox: "Does a set of all sets that do not contain themselves contain itself?" The way it's written, though, it's a nonstarter. The "set" of Russell's Paradox is a subset of this "set", and thus, the "set" described isn't a set.[[/note]]

* In the ''CovertAffairs'' episode "Walter's Walk", Auggie refers to a sequence of numbers as being a "complex cylic permutation". But a permutation is a rearrangement of things, not a sequence. Moreover cyclic permutations are the simplest of all permutations, and talking about them being complex makes no sense.

* ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life}}'' has a number of blackboards adorned with Newton's equation for gravity. That's like Ernest Hemingway trying to come to grips with "Hop On Pop".

* A whiteboard in the opening scene of ''{{Half-Life}}'' has the formula for gravity written on it. This is in a lab that works in theoretical physics. Ross Scott makes fun of this in his FreemansMind machinima. [[SarcasmMode "Having trouble remembering that one, guys?"]]
** On a similar note, in ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}''[='=]s cooperative mode, some whiteboards have Fourier transforms written on them. This would be quite useful for a lab that screws with physics as much as Aperture does.

Also related to relativity[[hottip:* :but this time general relativity instead of special relativity]], the Einstein field equations (R[[subscript:ab]] - (1/2)g[[subscript:ab]]R = (8πG/c[--[[superscript:4]]--])T[[subscript:ab]]) are rising in prominence as a decorative formula, as E=mc[--[[superscript:2]]--] has started to become a cliché. Loosely, the terms of the left describe the curvature of space-time (which is perceived as gravity) while the terms on the right refer to the distribution of matter.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exji-VRaqwQ#t=3m45s One segment]][[hottip:*:It's at 43:28 in the ''AMV Hell 4'']] for FanFic/AMVHell focused on a slow crawl across a blackboard covered with math equations in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. Halfway through the piece, we hear the Kevin Spacey in ''SupermanReturns'' "WRONG!", and as the music is swapped out for KingMissile's "Equivalencies", all the errors on the board are pointed out with red marker.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', there are posters around that list paradoxes in the event of a [[AIIsACrapshoot rogue AI.]] One of the listed paradoxes is "Does a set of all sets contain itself?" [[hottip:*:This is clearly based on Russell's Paradox: "Does a set of all sets that do not contain themselves contain itself?" The way it's written, though, it's a nonstarter. The "set" of Russell's Paradox is a subset of this "set", and thus, the "set" described isn't a set.]]

* Nobel Prize winning physicist Leon Lederman speculated in ''The God Particle'' that physicists in trouble could write the number 137 on a sign and expect other physicists to come to their assistance. The reason: 137 is (very close to) the reciprocal of alpha, the fine structure constant, and one of the most arbitrary-seeming constants in physics.[[hottip:* :This is because because alpha is "dimensionless" which means comes out the same no matter which units of measure you use. A simple example is the ratio between the electrical charge of an electron and that of a down-quark, which is exactly 3:1 no matter which units you use for measuring charge. Similarly, alpha is the square of the ratio between the charge of an electron and the "Planck charge" (which is a property of free space). However, whereas it is easy to assume that there is some simple mathematical reason for the ratio 3:1 -- even without knowing what that reason is -- it is appreciably harder to imagine how the pure mathematical structure of the Theory-Of-Everything could force 1/alpha to be exactly 137-and-a-bit. Many have lost their way trying to prove it was exactly 137 before it was measured more accurately...]]

* Mariah Carey went so far as to name her most recent album ''E=MC[--[[superscript:2]]--]''. She claims it stands for "(E) Emancipation (=) equals (MC) Mariah Carey to the second power." Yeah right.
** See the QuantumMariahCareyProblem for further discussion.

* Subverted in a CrowningMomentOfAwesome in ''Tobaku Datenroku Zero''. Near the end of a psychotic quiz game in which a super-sharp pendulum is lowered when the answer is wrong, the titular character Ukai Zero is answering a trivia question about the period of a pendulum. He's shown to be under pressure, thinking up a bunch of random equations which have nothing to do with the relevant speeds of rotation. And he gets the question wrong. However, [[spoiler:it turns out that all those equations were him using the measurements of his body parts to ascertain that, with his next incorrect answer, the anchor would crash into the block his head was resting on, effectively winning the game. The MC was not happy.]]

* Some of the math questions that appear on the board in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' for an eighth grade math class are taken from, among other places, the entrance exam for Tokyo University. More information [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Mathematics_of_Madoka_Magica here]].

* In ''{{Earthbound}}'', Doctor Andonuts has a big chalkboard in his lab with nothing written on it but a big "E=mc[--[[superscript:2]]--]".
* ''{{Half-Life}}'' has a number of blackboards adorned with Newton's equation for gravity. That's like Ernest Hemingway trying to come to grips with "Hop On Pop".

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', there are posters around that list paradoxes in the event of a [[AIIsACrapshoot rogue AI.]] One of the listed paradoxes is "Does a set of all sets contain itself?" [[hottip:* : This is clearly based on Russell's Paradox: "Does a set of all sets that do not contain themselves contain itself?" The way it's written, though, it's a nonstarter. The "set" of Russell's Paradox is a subset of this "set", and thus, the "set" described isn't a set.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'''s MadMathematician Sho Minamimoto not only [[MouthfulOfPi SPEAKS in Math]], he uses it as his FormulaicMagic and the Incantation of a Level [[GeniusBonus ''i'']] [[StuffBlowingUp Flare.]]

* ''SpongeBobSquarePants'' usually has Sandy show [=SpongeBob=] some equations.

** Sometimes justified, since the teacher that appears most often believes that math means nothing in a universe where Fairies exist.

* Abused by ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory''.

** And Pokey Oaks Kindergarten. In one episode, Ms Keane starts out with "1 + 1 = 2", then proceeds to give a theoretical description of time travel.
* ''{{Fillmore}}'' has an episode set around a maths test. When the teacher gives her class an assignment, it reads: 2+ x=5, x-y= 16, -2x-y=-14, 2x+ 4y=12, -2x+ 5y=5. She asks them to solve both x and y, and tells them to spend the rest of the lesson doing so. This amount of time would make sense, as it's actually impossible -- the value of x and y changes in those equations from one example to the next.

** Parodied when Homer is an inventor. During a montage, he's shown writing equations on a blackboard. After he's done, the camera moves to shot of the house -- where there's a massive explosion. Cut back to Homer: who examines his equation and crosses out the offending section, a drawing of a stick of dynamite, which he then replaces with something else. This results in another, ''bigger'' explosion.

--->'''Homer:''' The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isoceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side!\\
'''Co-worker in a stall:''' That's a ''right'' triangle, y'idiot!\\
'''Homer:''' D'oh!

--->'''Nelson:''' Lisa's a genius! She can do the kind of math that has letters! Watch: what does X equal, Lisa?\\
'''Lisa:''' Well, that depends...\\
'''Nelson:''' She could do it yesterday, I swear!
* The board in ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'''s class would often be filled with formulas like the Pythagorean theorem or simple derivatives, even though the characters are respectively three and six years too young for them. Apparently, this is part of Mr. Ratburn's SadistTeacher reputation.

** On a similar note, in the second ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' game's cooperative mode, some whiteboards have Fourier transforms written on them. This would be quite useful for a lab that screws with physics as much as Aperture does.
** And early in the single-player game, a wall in one of Ratman's [[RoomFullOfCrazy Rooms Full Of Crazy]] shows a cat jumping (or perhaps tunneling?) out of a box, along with various UsefulNotes/QuantumPhysics equations, a reference to the SchrodingersCat thought experiment that was played with in the tie-in ''Lab Rat'' comic.
** {{Averted}} in ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'', the long-developed Source-based FanRemake of Half-Life, where whiteboards in the offices and labs have actual believable notes, diagrams, calculus equations, chemical formulas, etc. Hard to say how accurate they are, but the point is, they ''look'' real.

**** Electrons tasting like grapeade is itself probably a reference to the fact that the 6 symmetrically-paired "types" of quarks are known as flavors.

** In "It's About Time", Twilight writes the formulae for time dilation on her blackboard. (Well, mostly. She crashes and burns computing the integral, but at least they're valid mathematical expressions.)