2013-03-26
Explanation
This comic is titled "How to Destroy a Math Class in One Question" and presents a self-referential graph problem. The setup is a test question worth 100 points that asks students to "fill in this graph appropriately." The graph'''s y-axis is labeled "Emptiness in this graph" and the x-axis is labeled "Width of this graph."
The joke is a delicious paradox. The graph is asking you to plot the emptiness of itself against its own width. If the graph is empty (unfilled), then the "emptiness" value is high, so you should plot something in the upper region -- but then the graph is no longer empty, which means the emptiness value should be low. Any attempt to fill in the graph changes the very quantity the graph is supposed to represent, creating an impossible self-referential loop similar to the liar'''s paradox. The x-axis adds another layer: the width of the graph is a fixed physical property of the graph itself, making the whole exercise absurdly circular.
The votey panel offers a wry meta-commentary: "Graph jokes are this generation'''s knowing how to draw" -- suggesting that using graph-format humor is a lazy shortcut that substitutes for actual artistic skill, much as SMBC itself frequently uses graph jokes.