Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Tags: imaginary numbers, math, instinct, calculus, born with it, mathematician, imaginary, numbers, calvin, perspective. Add Tags

Comments (60) Jump to Comments Form

Margueritem said, 9 months ago

Yep, Hobbes and I share math skills…
TheSpleen said, 9 months ago

margueritem, I’m unclear. Are you saying both your and Hobbes’ math skills are imaginary or instinctive?
cleokaya said, 9 months ago

I see an “F” in Calvin’s future and a full inquiry into a tiger’s instinct.
Margueritem said, 9 months ago

TheSpleen says:

margueritem, I’m unclear. Are you saying both your and Hobbes’ math skills are imaginary or instinctive?

~They’re both non exsistant.
Gweedo Murray said, 9 months ago

That Hobbes could teach me a thing or three.
baslim_the_begger said, 9 months ago

looks like an unlucky number no matter how you add it up!
BlackKnight15 said, 9 months ago

Reading these comments prove that it really is true - 3 out of every two people are bad at maths….
4deerinmyyard said, 9 months ago

Tiger, tiger, teaching math,
Leads Calvin down the garden path.
Unnecessary obfuscation
Can only hinder education.

(Thought I’d beat Warthog to it, for a change.)
green_engineer said, 9 months ago

I thought Calvin would be quite good with imaginary numbers.

Isn’t ‘i’ the imaginary number? That’s a letter…now I’m confused.
Macushlalondra said, 9 months ago

Calvin he’s putting you on and you’re falling for it. Just do your own homework.
prasrinivara said, 9 months ago

4deerinmyyard, cleokaya: Oh, Calvin will get the F–but he’ll then complain that math is a religion (and complain about it being officially promulgated in schools), a point on which Hobbes will be supportive.
Dry said, 9 months ago

Don’t you just love Hobbes expression in the last panel?
Florimond Laporte said, 9 months ago

i = square root of -1.

I really like this one…
9+4… calculus…
Carmy said, 9 months ago

Oh you proud little Hobbes. You’re a master of thinkology.
BirishB said, 9 months ago

ahhh, grade school. They succeed when so well grounded in the fundamental R’s: readin’. ‘ritin’, and ‘rithmatic …
ultraman said, 9 months ago

wouldn’t it be funny, if after all of hobbes’ mathematical gyrations, he still came up with the correct answer?
grammahotsho said, 9 months ago

Unclear? Clear is my favorite color!
EMandEM said, 9 months ago

What happens when Calvin finds out that Hobbes instincts are not exactly up-to-the-mark?
Look at the fright Calvin gets in panel 3 when Hobbes mentions imaginary numbers. The ‘i’ always gave me the shivers too. I could never comprehend what place imagination had in the science of mathematics. It might as well have been art.
Saucy1121 said, 9 months ago

BirishB says:

ahhh, grade school. They succeed when so well grounded in the fundamental R’s: readin’. ‘ritin’, and ‘rithmatic …

But not too much on spelling.
allyheartz said, 9 months ago

CALCULUS to figure out 9 + 4. Oh hobbes oh hobbes.
bald 716 said, 9 months ago

calvin is more into life skills rather than school book learning
Stuart Gathman said, 9 months ago

Those who have studied Gödel’s theorem will have encountered Supernatural Numbers. Gödel showed that the axioms, proofs and theorems of Typographical Number Theory could be mapped to integers. He proved that natural numbers could not produce a true theorem he constructed (involving self reference since the theorems were about numbers - now mapped to theorems). Supernatural numbers were introduced to make these self referential theorems reachable, like Imaginary numbers did for Reals. Of course, the new set of Natural plus Supernatural integers could be Gödelized the same way, so the result stands.
JanCinVV said, 9 months ago

Where’s Charlie Epps when you need him?
JonD17 said, 9 months ago

margueritem says:

TheSpleen says:

margueritem, I’m unclear. Are you saying both your and Hobbes’ math skills are imaginary or instinctive?

They’re both non exsistant…..
Marg, I was thinking they were instinctively imaginary, like mine
;=/
JonD17 said, 9 months ago

BlackKnight15 says:
Reading these comments prove that it really is true - 3 out of every two people are bad at maths………
and the 4th one?
JonD17 said, 9 months ago

ultraman says:
wouldn’t it be funny, if after all of hobbes’ mathematical gyrations, he still came up with the correct answer?…….
I am sure he will, ultraman
TheDoctortheoneonlya... said, 9 months ago

MISTER WATTERSON:PLEASE COME BACK! WE MISS YOU, CALVIN, HOBBES….and THE INFAMOUS SNOWMEN OF THE INNER PSYCHE.
johnnydoc5 said, 9 months ago

imaginary numbers aren’t all that they are cracked up to be. there is no eleventeen or thirty-twelve, just i.
Silverpearl said, 9 months ago

OOps!! they forgot X!!
Steve_Barker said, 9 months ago

The reality of it all is that everything is imaginary. Do the math. It all adds up.
bleepingdeadalien said, 9 months ago

Tigers are like that…I nominate Hobbes to handle the stimulus package!
#1 redskins fan said, 9 months ago

Imaginary numbers are just that, imaginary. Stuart Gatham’s rant just serves to illustrate mankind’s efforts to explain what he can’t; that God is the Creator and there are some things that just can’t BE explained, even with imaginary numbers. BTW I STILL love Hobbes’ “fuzzy math”! <:-)
midiranger said, 9 months ago

1 Red, in Hobbes case, wouldn’t that be ‘furry’ math? :)
bmonk said, 9 months ago

green_engineer says:

“I thought Calvin would be quite good with imaginary numbers.

“Isn’t ‘i’ the imaginary number? That’s a letter…now I’m confused.”

g-engineer: you should know by now that mathematicians never have enough numbers (or variables) so they always make up more as they go along… ;)

@JonD17, the 4th one is a mathematician, of which there are two types: those who can count, and those who can’t.

#1 redskins fan says:

“Imaginary numbers are just that, imaginary.”

Yes, but they still work, so they can’t be much more imaginary than, say, -1. Who ever saw -1 dollar, or put it in his or her wallet? (Credit cards don’t count!)
Northwoodser said, 9 months ago

To Stuart Gathman I can only say “Huh?” To Hobbes, “Right on ”
Wildmustang1262 said, 9 months ago

Sorry, the mathematician is not my subject. I am not very good on the mathematician, anyway.
Stuart Gatham’s comment is waaay toooo complicated! HUH?
Radical-Knight said, 9 months ago

I think Hobbs is related to some goober I had as a math teacher when I was in grade school. Made perfect sense then. Huh?
Landri Sheppard said, 9 months ago

i love Hobbes face in the 2nd and last panels! Calvin should stop using Hobbes “math” and start doing his own homework! btw Calvin the answer is 13 hopefully evryone else posting comments on here does…if they dont…well then…i only have one thing to say to them:…go back 2 school!and if u cant even do math how can u read write and type?
musicnut1986 said, 9 months ago

Instead of asking Hobbes for help with his math homework, Calvin needs to ask Spaceman Spiff. I’m sure he has run into various types of math in his travels across the known (and unknown) universe.
JonD17 said, 9 months ago

I could be wrong, but I think that Stuart Gathman’s hypothoses (sp?) is a bit of a spoof, to prove that nothing from nothing is still nothing. (credits to Billy Preston)
Landri Sheppard said, 9 months ago

TheDoctor(whatever ur name is) i agree!!!!
#1 redskins fan said, 9 months ago

midiranger-yes, just keep all the lollipops away as you’re calculating the problem using imaginary numbers like $-1 in your wallet. In DC, that’s the sure sign of a pickpocket,”Bmonk”! <:-)
DreamScourge said, 9 months ago

It’s a shame that mathematicians who obviously have no imagination had to invent an imaginary number just to show the world that they had some.

Go Hobbes!
DreamScourge said, 9 months ago

Just to prove that supernatural numbers really do exist, here’s what wikipedia has to say about them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural_numbers

Oy oy oy!
Orgelspieler said, 9 months ago

Stuart Gathman!!! As punishment for bringing up Gödel in a comment about a comic strip, I hereby hex thee. May all the radiators in your particular corner of hell go “Thrump!”. (My thanks to Mr. Thurber for a particularly apropos quote.)

For clarity and accuracy, I also prefer Mr. Hofstadter’s explanation of Gödel’s theorem to your own, just so you know.
papa smurf said, 9 months ago

This seems all so irrationally complex, me, I vote for surreal numbers like in Dali’s clocks!
BirishB said, 9 months ago

Numbers don’t lie; but mathematicians and statisticians sure do …
KingTHC said, 9 months ago

Calvin is screwed if Hobbes is his math tutor.
cozila said, 9 months ago

Hobbes’ definitely got a french brain for his maths…
unemandarine said, 9 months ago

margueritem says:
Yep, Hobbes and I share math skills…

I believe I too have Hobbes math skills…

Poor Clavin, I don’t think he knows Hobbes is messing with his head.