'''Basic Trope''': Mathematics in fiction portrayed inaccurately.
* '''Straight''': During a mathematics class at Tropery School, the board is covered in mathematical symbols that don't mean anything.
* '''Exaggerated''':
** The board is covered with random numbers, letters, Greek letters, formulas from physics, shapes, and symbols.
** The board is filled with obviously incorrect math like "1+2=4".
** The math equations use patently ridiculous symbols for variables, like [[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario mushrooms and flowers]].
* '''Downplayed''':
** The board has meaningful mathematics, but it's too easy (or too hard) for the level at Tropery School.
** Sometimes the math is portrayed accurately, sometimes it isn't.
** [[CalculusIsArcaneKnowledge Calculus is portrayed as unknowable to anyone outside of advanced mathematicians and geniuses]], even though it's actually pretty basic as far as higher mathematics is concerned.
* '''Justified''': Not applicable. (Any InUniverse explanation is a subversion.)
* '''Inverted''':
** The Mathematics classes in a work are portrayed accurately, [[ShownTheirWork at college level, and the writers aren't mathematicians.]]
** Mathematics is portrayed correctly, but every other subject is not.
** A real mathematical equation is claimed to be nonsense.
* '''Subverted''':
** The board is seen covered in nonsense symbols, but it turns out it was a pupil that wrote it. The board is a prop for a play in which mathematics is made fun of.
** Tropery School exists in a universe where meaningful maths looks like nonsense to us.
** Tropery School existed in the 1600s, the notational standards were different back then. [[note]]trying to read it as Modern Math would be like trying to read Middle (or even Old) English as Modern English[[/note]]
** Tropery School has accurate differential equations in an elementry school but it is a school for the gifted making it in place.
** The pictographs are part of a layman's explanation. For instance: 🔋=⚖️×(💡×💡), while not proper, gets the message of [=E=mc=][[superscript:2]] across.
** Bob is selling a device that claims to cure illnesses, and shows off a bunch of nonsensical "mathematics" while explaining how it works. It looks like BS because ''it is'' -- it's later revealed that Bob is a SnakeOilSalesman and the device doesn't work.
** this isn't a ''solve the equation'' test, but a ''fix the equation'' test.[[note]]"That X-Cubed should be an X-Squared, Miss Hornsby."[[/note]]
* '''Double Subverted''': Then a real Maths class at the school is shown. The mathematics is just as bad, if not worse.
* '''Parodied''': Mathematics can look like every subject that isn't mathematics. For instance, at some point the board is filled with Spanish verbs conjugations and everyone says it's math.
* '''Zig Zagged''':
** There are equations that make sense, equations that makes no sense, and equations that make sense but are in the wrong context on the board.
** [[Recap/FuturamaS6E10ThePrisonerOfBenda While the equations on the board are completely made up, they're mathematically solid]].
* '''Averted''':
** The mathematical symbols are accurate.
** Even though the show is set at school, math class is never shown.
* '''Enforced''':
** WritersCannotDoMath
** "The math equations depicted don't have to make sense. It's not like the audience will be paying attention."
** Given [[DontTryThisAtHome the potential for catastrophe]] the real formula has, OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope.
** The console only had a few tiles available for blackboards and the tile artist went for making a few generics and mix-and-matching them as needed.
* '''Lampshaded''': "Charlie, I need some help. Does the stuff on the board even mean anything?"
* '''Invoked''':
** The class has an uneducated substitute teacher.
** The teacher is testing his pupils' ability to recognize and fix notational errors.
* '''Exploited''': Charlie is given a "math" test, scribbles all over it, and gets a perfect score.
* '''Defied''': [[TheSmartGuy Macy]] sees the nonsense on the board, shudders "Who thinks this is maths?", erases everything on the board and writes some actual maths.
* '''Discussed''': "I dread Maths class. I've never understood the weird symbols and formulas. It just makes no sense."
* '''Conversed''': "Why are the mathematical symbols on this show so inaccurate?"
%%* '''Implied''': ???
* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': The writers want to make a TakeThat to incompetent teachers or to the education system itself, so they do their research on whatever level of math it is, and then intentionally portray it inaccurately.
* '''Deconstructed''': When the nonsense is discovered, the teachers are fired for their incompetence.
* '''Reconstructed''': The teacher explains everything with InsaneTrollLogic.
* '''Played For Laughs''': The inaccurate equations are a RunningGag.
* '''Played For Drama''': Tropery School is a bad school. Its pupils are children of families that can't afford anything better. The nonsense "maths" is just one sign of the low quality.
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Mouse placement + click here = EEqualsMCHammer
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