A mathematician, a physicist, and an engineer are each locked in a closed room with a can of food, and will only be let out when the can is opened. The engineer is first out, having beaten his can into submission, and having eaten whatever of the food didn’t spray all over the walls in the process. The physicist took a little longer. He analyzed the pressure points of the can, then applied gentle pressure. The can was open and all the food intact.
A couple days passed, and the mathematician is still rocking in a corner of the room, repeating “assume the can is open, assume the can is open…”
Although, I don’t have many more good mathematical jokes. You see, the problem is is that the calculus jokes are all derivative, trigonometry jokes are too graphic, algebra jokes are usually formulaic, and arithmetic jokes are pretty basic. But I guess the occasional statistics joke is an outlier.
For some reason, the phrase “Never take a mathematician square-dancing” came to mind as if it were the opening to a joke; but if it is, I don’t remember the punchline.
