Math Jokes: Dictionary

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We hope you enjoy our collection of favorite math jokes and jokes about what teachers say and what they mean.You may want to check out our algebra math jokes, calculus math jokes, geometry math jokes etc. on our Math Trivia page.

The Dictionary: what math lecturers say and what they mean by it.

* Clearly: I don't want to write down all the "in-between" steps.

* Trivial: If I have to show you how to do this, you're in the wrong class.

* It can easily be shown: No more than four hours are needed to prove it.

* Check for yourself: This is the boring part of the proof, so you can do it on your own time.

* Hint: The hardest of several possible ways to do a proof.

* Brute force (and ignorance): Four special cases, three counting arguments and two long inductions and a partridge in a pear tree

* Soft proof: One third less filling (of the page) than your regular proof, but it requires two extra years of course work just to understand the terms.

* Elegant proof: Requires no previous knowledge of the subject matter and is less than ten lines long.

* Similarly: At least one line of the proof of this case is the same as before.

* Two line proof: I'll leave out everything but the conclusion, you can't question 'em if you can't see 'em.

* Briefly: I'm running out of time, so I'll just write and talk faster.

* Proceed formally: Manipulate symbols by the rules without any hint of their true meaning.

* Proof omitted: Trust me, It's true.

* Obviously: I hope you weren't sleeping when we discussed this earlier, because I refuse to repeat it.

* Recall: I shouldn't have to tell you this, but for those of you who erase your memory tapes after every test...

* WLOG (Without Loss Of Generality): I'm not about to do all the possible cases, so I'll do one and let you figure out the rest.

* It can be easily shown: Even you, in your finite wisdom, should be able to prove this without me holding your hand.

* Sketch of a proof: I couldn't verify all the details, so I'll break it down into the parts I couldn't prove.

* Canonical form: 4 out of 5 mathematicians surveyed recommended this as the final form for their students who choose to finish.

* TFAE (The Following Are Equivalent): If I say this it means that, and if I say that it means the other thing, and if I say the other thing...

* By a previous theorem: I don't remember how it goes (come to think of it I'm not really sure we did this at all), but if I stated it right (or at all), then the rest of this follows.

* Let's talk it through: I don't want to write it on the board lest I make a mistake.

* Quantify: I can't find anything wrong with your proof except that it won't work if x is a moon of Jupiter (Popular in applied math courses).