Plot Device: The Irreducible Polynomial with a Heart of Gold
A story trope recast as a math object: The Irreducible Polynomial with a Heart of Gold.
Use this cartoon
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/2024-11-04-mathematical-plot-devices--plot-device-the-irreducible-polynomial-with-a-heart-of-gold/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)Transcript
The Irreducible Polynomial with a Heart of Gold: x² − 2. "Look, I know he seems cold, incalculable, even irrational. But the guy gets results. And at his roots, he's still *real*, dammit." (Post: "There's just no rational way to factor that guy.")