I understand why this is wrong (order of operations dictates the division happens first, so it's really 25 - 1 = 24), but why is it funny? I don't mean "This isn't funny," I think I'm just missing the joke.
this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025
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4! Is meant to be 4 factorial. 4! = 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24
Aha! Got it, thank you so much.
And here I was thinking I was still decent at math. I got bamboozled...
Or if you don’t know order of operations, then you probably also don’t know factorials, so 20 / 5 = 4
The fuck is a "factorial"? They didn't teach me that one in high school math and I couldn't afford college.
Im sorry your highschool curriculum failed to teach you. I learned factorals in jr highschool
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Factorial means n! = (n)(n-1)(n-2)... etc. down to 1, where n is a positive integer. It's used to calculate the different number of configurations of a set of elements, mainly in combinatorics.
Like if you have four different objects and you want to know how many different configurations you can order them in, you have four choices for the first object, then three for the second, then two for the third, then one for the final slot. So the answer is 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24 = 4!.
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4 factorial
The exclamation point denotes the factorial function. 4! = 4 ⋅ 3 ⋅ 2 ⋅ 1
I see no one has explained yet, so I'll give it a shot. He is excited about math, and that needs to be encouraged.
The exclamation point makes it right. The formula, when worked with proper order of operations, equals 24, which is equal to 4 factorial (4!) 1 * 2 * 3 * 4=24
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Best math meme so far.
4! = ...Wait, that's literally the point of the post this time
Comment section full of people looking for an opportunity to argue
No it isn't
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ASCII hack failure of language. Even in mathematics, ! has multiple meanings like with Boolean NOT. We need a science, math, and language reformation to remove non intuitive narcissistic names, and implied contextual meanings.
You might find Lojban interesting if you are not already aware. (I haven't tried to learn it myself, I just know it exists)
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I've never seen ! used for boolean NOT in maths, just ¬. I think ! is something programming languages went for because it's easier to type. That said, screw (a, b). Is that a (coordinate) pair, an interval, an inner product, some secret fourth thing? Who knows!
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You got the wrong symbol in the headline, it should be >3
Ok this is funny
This is quite possibly the best maths joke I've ever seen.
[edit] I guess it still can't beat the 'be rational' / 'get real' one.
Thank God this meme is muted
Clever! lol
for those that didn't get it: clever factorial = brilliant
Can someone explain to me why this is funny?
So with people who do order of operations incorrectly, you have 25-5 =20 and then divide it by 5 and you get 4.
However the correct answer is 24 since you do the division first.
Where the joke comes in is he states “4!”, which sounds like he is emphatic about the wrong answer. However an exclamation mark is “factorial” which translates to 4x3x2x1… which happens to equal the correct answer of 24.
Ah! :D I like it.
25 - ⁵/₅ = 25 - 1 = 24
If you wrote it vertically:
25 - 5
————— = 4
5
But once you lay it out on one line, you have to use prins to prioritize addition / subtraction:
(25 - 5) / 5 = 20 / 5 = 4
Some YouTube mathematicians deep-dive into this.
ETA: Nothing goes over my head! My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it.
The joke is 4! (Factorial) Is 24 so it looks right even if you do order of operations incorrectly.
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Yeah and 24 = 4 factorial = 4!
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