GagBase Logo Explore

Ramanujan Skipped Proofs To Save Your GPA

This is a single panel meme using a historic black and white portrait of renowned Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, who was widely known for publishing groundbreaking mathematical theorems and results without including full formal proof steps. The text below the portrait jokes that Ramanujan intentionally omitted proof steps as a kind gesture to modern students, so they cannot be marked down for skipping a proof step that was never written down in his original work. The joke references the common student experience of losing points in math classes for failing to show every step of a proof on assignments or exams.
Make

Text content

I knew the proofs. I just chose not to write them so that they don't fail you for a step that was never written

Overview

This is a single panel meme using a historic black and white portrait of renowned Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, who was widely known for publishing groundbreaking mathematical theorems and results without including full formal proof steps. The text below the portrait jokes that Ramanujan intentionally omitted proof steps as a kind gesture to modern students, so they cannot be marked down for skipping a proof step that was never written down in his original work. The joke references the common student experience of losing points in math classes for failing to show every step of a proof on assignments or exams.

Origin notes

This meme was sourced from the Reddit r/Meme subreddit via RSS, with the original post titled "Skipped the proof only to save your GPA". It uses a public domain historical photograph of Ramanujan, paired with relatable student humor about math course grading policies that require full proof steps for full credit.

Similar memes

This single-panel STEM humor meme features a complex infinite series formula for calculating 1/π, attributed to mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, at the top. On the left below the formula is a cartoon of an enraged, glasses-wearing Wojak/soyjak character shouting the question 'Source?'. On the right is a black and white portrait of Srinivasa Ramanujan, paired with the text 'It was revealed to me in a dream' below his photo. The joke references Ramanujan's real-life habit of claiming many of his revolutionary mathematical insights were gifted to him in dreams by his family deity, poking fun at the common academic and internet culture demand for cited sources for all claims, even those that came from unconventional origins.

Ramanujan Reveals Pi Formula In A Dream Meme

This single-panel STEM humor …

This is a black and white single image meme featuring a portrait of famous American novelist Kurt Vonnegut, who rests his clasped hands under his chin and looks at the viewer with a serious, contemplative expression. Overlaid on the lower portion of the image is a widely cited quote attributed to Vonnegut that critiques modern society's tendency to prioritize short-term cost-effectiveness over actions that would ensure long-term collective survival, followed by his name, professional title, and lifespan. The quote is frequently referenced in discussions of climate change inaction, systemic social neglect, and profit-first public policy.

Kurt Vonnegut Critical Quote About Prioritizing Cost Over Societal Survival

This is a black and white sin…

This is a single panel black and white meme featuring a historical portrait of quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger, creator of the famous Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment. Yellow overlaid text at the top reads 'The straight of Hormuz', while text at the bottom reads 'is both open and closed'. The core joke references the quantum superposition concept from Schrödinger's experiment, where an object can exist in two states simultaneously until observed, applied to the geopolitically volatile Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, which frequently has conflicting public reports about whether it is open or closed to traffic. The original post title 'The cat didn't make it' adds an extra humorous layer referencing the cat that was the subject of the original Schrödinger's Cat experiment, implying the cat is no longer part of the joke premise.

The Strait of Hormuz is Both Open and Closed Schrödinger Meme

This is a single panel black …

This is a 3-panel comparative meme using the popular "Mr. Incredible Becoming Uncanny" format to illustrate the escalating severity of an accidental mistake depending on the profession of the person saying "oops". The first panel shows a normal, brightly colored, relaxed smiling Mr. Incredible paired with the text "saying 'oops' as a Teacher", representing low-stakes minor mistakes with negligible consequences. The second panel shows a desaturated, unsettling uncanny version of Mr. Incredible paired with "saying 'oops' as a Surgeon", representing significantly higher-stakes mistakes that can cause serious harm to patients. The third panel shows an extremely dark, distorted, almost unrecognizable version of Mr. Incredible paired with "saying 'oops' as a Nuclear Physicist", representing catastrophic, potentially civilization-ending mistakes with massive, far-reaching consequences. The humor derives from the exponential increase in implied severity matched to the progressively more disturbing visual of the character.

Saying 'oops' gets exponentially more serious across different professions

This is a 3-panel comparative…

The meme features an image of a man in a wheelchair being pushed by another man along a sunlit walkway with columns and greenery. The top text reads: 'Stephen Hawking as soon as he lands on Jeffrey Epstein's island,' creating a dark humor joke by juxtaposing the respected physicist Stephen Hawking with the controversial figure Jeffrey Epstein and his infamous private island. The image appears to be a screenshot from an unknown source that has been repurposed with the caption.

Stephen Hawking as soon as he lands on Jeffrey Epstein's island

The meme features an image of…

This is a two-panel humor meme that plays on the context of successful NASA space missions and Pakistan's failed lunar mission attempt. The top panel features NASA astronaut Victor Glover celebrating excitedly with raised fists after a successful mission, in front of an American flag, overlaid with the quote "Thank you, God, for keeping us safe". The bottom panel shows a stern, unimpressed bald man of South Asian descent standing with hands on his hips, labeled as "NASA Engineers" — the joke references that many NASA engineers are of South Asian descent, and the man (a Pakistani politician) is implied to feel left out of the celebration after his home country's failed space mission, resulting in his grumpy expression.

Must have felt a little left out

This is a two-panel humor mem…

A screenshot of a tweet from X.com (formerly Twitter) by user Sachin Rautela. The tweet features a black background with white text, displaying a quote attributed to Dale Carnegie. The text reads: 'The best advice from a book — worth remembering. You can’t win an argument. If you lose it, you lose it. If you win it, you lose it. — Dale Carnegie'. The top-left corner shows the X logo, the username 'Sachin Rautela', the handle '@sachin_rautela', and an Indian flag emoji.

Dale Carnegie's Advice on Winning Arguments

A screenshot of a tweet from …

This is a single-panel black and white edited meme that combines the face of former US President Donald Trump with the body of an ancient Chinese scholar styled to look like Sun Tzu, the famous ancient military strategist. On the right side of the image, there is a quote that reads "Break an enemy blockade by blockading their blockade." credited to "DON TZU" — a pun combining "Don" (short for Donald) with "Tzu" from Sun Tzu. The joke is the absurd circular "wise strategy" that sounds like a profound ancient quote but is actually nonsensical, fitting the "big brain" meme trope of overly complicated or circular logic.

It's big brain time: Don Tzu Meme

This is a single-panel black …

A meme featuring a historical portrait of Sir Isaac Newton, a prominent physicist known for discovering gravity. The image has two lines of text: the top text reads 'MF HAD SEEN HIS PISS GO DOWN EVERY TIME' and the bottom text reads 'BUT NEEDED AN APPLE TO NOTICE GRAVITY'. The joke humorously contrasts the everyday observation of urine falling (due to gravity) with the popular story of Newton discovering gravity after an apple fell on his head, implying he should have noticed gravity sooner from mundane experiences.

Newton's Piss vs. the Apple: Gravity Discovery

A meme featuring a historical…

This is a two-panel comparative meme. The top panel features a sepia portrait of inventor Nikola Tesla, paired with the label 'Guy who made the joke', representing the person who originally comes up with a funny comment in a group setting. The bottom panel features a sepia photo of inventor Thomas Edison holding an incandescent lightbulb, paired with the label 'Guy who said it louder infront of the whole class', representing the person who repeats the original joke at a higher volume to get credit and laughs from the larger group. The joke relies on the common popular historical anecdote that Edison took public credit for invention work originally done by Tesla, drawing a direct parallel to the relatable social experience of having your joke appropriated by someone who repeats it louder to get recognition.

Guy who made the joke vs guy who repeats it louder meme

This is a two-panel comparati…

This is a two-panel side-by-side comparison meme that makes a relatable joke about the difference in motivation between reading assigned school work versus reading for fun. The left panel, captioned 'read 20 pages for school', shows famous author Albert Camus sitting at a desk with a stack of books, covering his face with his hand looking completely exhausted and frustrated. The right panel, captioned 'read 800 pages novel for fun', shows Camus smiling, relaxed and happy. The joke plays on the common experience that students will happily read hundreds of pages of a book they choose for enjoyment, but struggle to get through just a small number of pages when the reading is assigned for school.

Reading 20 Pages For School vs 800 Pages For Fun (For Real)

This is a two-panel side-by-s…

A meme structured in two sections comparing 'Newton with an apple' and 'Me with an apple.' The top section 'Newton with an apple' features a left image of an astronaut floating in space with Earth and a crescent moon, and a right image of a historical portrait of Isaac Newton with curly hair. The bottom section 'Me with an apple' shows two left images of a red apple with a barcode sticker, and two right images of an orange kitten—top kitten with a neutral expression, bottom kitten with the apple's barcode sticker edited onto its forehead, creating a cute, relatable contrast to Newton's scientific legacy.

Newton with an apple vs Me with an apple

A meme structured in two sect…