For some, math can be incredibly confusing and frustrating. But it does have its humorous side too, as evidenced by these funny math quotes and sayings. We hope you enjoy them!
31 Funny Math Quotes
Mathematics is a game played according to certain simple rules with meaningless marks on paper.
David Hilbert
The most painful thing about mathematics is how far away you are from being able to use it after you have learned it.
James Newman
The teacher pretended that algebra was a perfectly natural affair, to be taken for granted, whereas I didn’t even know what numbers were. Mathematics classes became sheer terror and torture to me. I was so intimidated by my incomprehension that I did not dare to ask any questions.
Carl Jung
While physics and mathematics may tell us how the universe began, they are not much use in predicting human behavior because there are far too many equations to solve. I’m no better than anyone else at understanding what makes people tick, particularly women.
Stephen Hawking
The greatest unsolved theorem in mathematics is why some people are better at it than others.
Adrian Mathesis
A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn’t there.
Charles Darwin
Stand firm in your refusal to remain conscious during algebra. In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.
Fran Lebowitz
In mathematics, you don’t understand things. You just get used to them.
Johann von Neumann
Arithmetic is where numbers fly like pigeons in and out of your head.
Carl Sandburg
Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself any more.
Albert Einstein
Algebraic symbols are used when you do not know what you are talking about.
Philippe Schnoebelen
There are two ways to do great mathematics. The first is to be smarter than everybody else. The second way is to be stupider than everybody else – but persistent.
Raoul Bott
It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry.
H. L. Mencken
Old math teachers never die, they just tend to infinity.
Unknown
I failed math twice, never fully grasping probability theory. I mean, first off, who cares if you pick a black ball or a white ball out of the bag? And second, if you’re bent over about the color, don’t leave it to chance. Look in the damn bag and pick the color you want.
Janet Evanovich
Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true.
Bertrand Russell
Mathematics consists in proving the most obvious thing in the least obvious way.
George Polya
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things.
Henri Poincare
Arithmetic is being able to count up to twenty without taking off your shoes.
Mickey Mouse
I would not dare to say that there is a direct relation between mathematics and madness, but there is no doubt that great mathematicians suffer from maniacal characteristics, delirium and symptoms of schizophrenia.
John Forbes Nash
The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple.
S. Gudder
Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.
Ambrose Bierce
Only in math can you buy sixty cantaloupes and no one asks what the hell is wrong with you.
Charles M. Schulz
If you’ve got a dollar and you spend 29 cents on a loaf of bread, you’ve got 71 cents left; But if you’ve got seventeen grand and you spend 29 cents on a loaf of bread, you’ve still got seventeen grand. There’s a math lesson for you.
Steve Martin
Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.
Mark Haddon
If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is.
John von Neumann
Just as I had long suspected, a person didn’t really need math for anything anyway. Maybe some people did. Some limited people.
Augusten Burroughs
So what should we say when children complete a task – say, math problems – quickly and perfectly? Should we deny them the praise they have earned? Yes. When this happens, I say, “Whoops. I guess that was too easy. I apologize for wasting your time. Let’s do something you can really learn from!
Carol Dweck
A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems.
Paul Erdos
The average IQ in America is – and this can be proven mathematically – average.
P.J. O’Rourke
There are two ways to do great mathematics. The first is to be smarter than everybody else. The second way is to be stupider than everybody else – but persistent.
Raoul Bott
Funny Quotes About Mathematics
If you enjoyed these funny math quotes, be sure to take a look at the rest of our funny quotes and sayings too, including these:
