2x + 3x = 5x
A mountaintop guru pronounces 2x + 3x = 5x. One listener hears universal wisdom; another hears a triviality. They're saying the same thing: an identity, true for every x.
Transcript
[A guru on a mountaintop] "2x + 3x = 5x" "Wow! Such universal wisdom!" "What?! That's a self-evident triviality." "We're saying the same thing."
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Free for classrooms, worksheets, slides and other non-commercial use under CC BY-NC 4.0, with credit to Ben Orlin.
Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2024-09-03-2x-3x-5x/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)