Grading Curves: The Joker's Curve
The Joker's Curve: a way to curve grades, graphed as new grade vs. old grade.
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/2025-10-22-curves-to-curve-by--grading-curves-the-joker-s-curve/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)Transcript
THE JOKER'S CURVE: new grade = |sin(25 × old grade)|. "I'm an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos? It's fair." Pros: those too young to have seen The Dark Knight may not share the philosophy (or get the reference).