explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1651: Robotic Garage

2016-03-09T01:28:45Z

173.245.56.63: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1651
| date = March 4, 2016
| title = Robotic Garage
| image = robotic_garage.png
| titletext = But listen, if getting your car out from under the pile is REALLY important to you, we do have an axe you can borrow.
}}

==Explanation==
In some cities, {{w|automated parking system}}s (aka robotic garages) are used to reduce the amount of space needed to store cars, as opposed to traditional parking buildings. The robotic system eliminates the needs for ramps and circulation/reversing areas. Normally, they work by having the user drive their car onto an elevator and get out, after which the elevator lifts or lowers the car into a compact storage space. Here [[Cueball]] drives up to what he believes to be a garage of this type operated by [[Black Hat]]. However, instead of an elevator carefully moving it into a storage space, a robotic claw simply picks up the car and dumps it in a bin of cars.

This type of parking option will not only break the car, but also make it impossible to take out if the car is at the bottom, hence the cars are ''{{w|Stack_(abstract_data_type)|stacked}}''.

Cueball reacts quite well to this treatment of his car when Black Hat tells him that later they just dump out the bin (full of cars) and he can then pick his own out from the pile. (Maybe he knows Black Hat well enough not to try to argue with him?) This is of course not possible with such heavy objects. Cueball continues to be benign about this absurd situation, which becomes even more absurd when he asks if Black Hat could at least make sure his car is not at the bottom (when it is dumped out with all the other cars). But Black Hat falls back on his the excuse "Robots aren't magic," implying that such a feat is beyond the realm of possibility. It would, of course, be quite possible to prevent the damage that Cueball fears if they were using a normal automated parking system.

In the title text he at least gives Cueball an option: he can borrow an axe, if it is really important for him to get the car out from the pile. Although in this situation, an axe would be a nearly useless tool (which, knowing him, is most likely Black Hat's intent), only allowing Cueball to laboriously hack through any other car that lies in the way on top of his own... and still it would not help much, because if his car is at the bottom, it will be even more destroyed than from just being dumped into the bin to begin with.

This is just one of many situations where Black Hat has an evil or just mean/crazy plan in progress. It's for instance not the first time that Black Hat has treated other people's car with great disrespect, although in [[562: Parking]], the guy with the car had it coming!

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat points left while talking to Cueball inside his small car.]
:Black Hat: Just pull onto the receiving platform.
:Cueball: Cool-I've always wanted to try one of these futuristic robotic garages.

:[Cueball has driven the car onto a platform in front of a stop to the left. He is just walking of the platform towards Black Hat.]

:[Zoom out reveals a robotic crane arm, that sits on top of the stop from the previous panel, which turns out to be a huge platform for this robot arm. The robotic arm picks up the car with its two fingers and lifts it into the air with a finger on the hood and the other below the car. Black Hat and Cueball look on.]
:Cueball: Um.

:[This panel pans over to the center of the robotic arm, to reveal a large bin with a label to the robots left. The robot arm holds the car almost straight up in the air, but over the bin.]
:Label: Cars

:[The robotic arm open up to release the car which crashes down into the bin, a sound already emanating from it when the rear end of the car (with one wheel still showing) is still visible.]
:Car: ''Crunch''
:Label: Cars

:[Zoom back to Black Hat and Cueball standing at the end of the empty platform.]
:Black Hat: We'll dump out the bin when you get back and you can pick out your car from the pile.
:Cueball: Can you at least make sure it's not on the bottom
:Black Hat: Look, robots aren't magic.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Robots]]

1651: Robotic Garage

2016-03-04T18:00:20Z

173.245.56.63: Rephrased the title text explanation, gave more as to the reasoning behind offering an axe

{{comic
| number = 1651
| date = March 4, 2016
| title = Robotic Garage
| image = robotic_garage.png
| titletext = But listen, if getting your car out from under the pile is REALLY important to you, we do have an axe you can borrow.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Any references in the "Robots aren't magic" quote.}}

In some cities, {{w|automated parking system}}s (aka robotic garages) are used to reduce the amount of space needed to store cars, as opposed to traditional parking buildings. The robotic system eliminates the needs for ramps and circulation/reversing areas. Normally, they work by having the user drive their car onto an elevator and get out, after which the elevator lifts or lowers the car into a compact storage space. Here [[Cueball]] drives up to what he believes to be a garage of this type operated by [[Black Hat]]. However, instead of an elevator carefully moving it into a storage space, a robotic claw simply picks up the car and dumps it in a bin of cars.

This type of parking options will not only break the car, but also make it impossible to take out if the car is at the bottom, hence the cars are ''{{w|Stack_(abstract_data_type)|stacked}}''.

Cueball reacts quite well to this treatment of his car, (maybe he knows Black Hat well enough not to try to argue with him?) And when Black Hat tells him that later they just dump out the bin (full of cars) and he can then pick his own our from the pile. This is of course not possible with such heavy objects. Had it only been the keys then... Cueball continues to be benign about this absurd situation, which becomes even more absurd when he asks if Black Hat could at least make sure his car is not at the bottom (when it is dumped out with all the other cars). But Black Hat falls back on his excuse: ''Robots aren't magic''.

In the title text he at least gives Cueball an option, he can borrow an axe, if it is really important for him to get the car out from the pile. Although in this situation, an axe would be a nearly useless tool (which, knowing him, is most likely Black Hat's intent), only allowing Cueball to laboriously hack through any other car that lies in the way on top of his own... and still it would not help much, because if his car is at the bottom, it will be even more destroyed than from just being dumped into the bin to begin with.

This is just one of many situations where Black Hat has an evil or just mean/crazy plan in progress. It's for instance not the first time that Black Hat has treated other people's car with great disrespect, although in [[562: Parking]], the guy with the car had it coming!

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat points left while talking to Cueball inside his small car.]
:Black Hat: Just pull onto the receiving platform.
:Cueball: Cool-I've always wanted to try one of these futuristic robotic garages.

:[Cueball has driven the car onto a platform in front of a stop to the left. He is just walking of the platform towards Black Hat.]

:[Zoom out reveals a robotic crane arm, that sits on top of the stop from the previous panel, which turns out to be a huge platform for this robot arm. The robotic arm picks up the car with it's two thongs and just lift it straight up in the air with a thong on the hood and the other below the car. Black Hat and Cueball look on.]
:Cueball: Um.

:[This panel pans over to the center of the robotic arm, to reveal a large bin with a label to the robots left. The robot arm holds the car almost straight up in the air, but over the bin.]
:Label: Cars

:[The robotic arm open up to release the car which crashes down into the bin, a sound already emanating from it when the rear end of the car (with one wheel still showing) is still visible.]
:Car: ''Crunch''
:Label: Cars

:[Zoom back to Black Hat and Cueball standing at the end of the empty platform.]
:Black Hat: We'll dump out the bin when you get back and you can pick out your car from the pile.
:Cueball: Can you at least make sure it's not on the bottom
:Black Hat: Look, robots aren't magic.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Robots]]

1637: Salt Mine

2016-02-01T14:07:43Z

173.245.56.63:

{{comic
| number = 1637
| date = February 1, 2016
| title = Salt Mine
| image = salt_mine.png
| titletext = This one is a little bland. Pass the saltshaker?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is a summary, not an explanation}}
Ponytail justifies the construction of a particle detector (An expensive device used in experimental physics) in a salt mine, because the salt will block cosmic radiation that could interfere with the physics experiments. While this is a legitimate reason to use a salt mine, ponytail and her colleagues have an ulterior motive of using the mine to get access to an enormous supply of salt for eating. This is absurd, since salt is already plentifully available in grocery stores, and the cost of the particle detector far exceeds the value of the salt.

Ponytail has built a particle detector in a salt mine. Hair Bun Girl assumes that this is to block out cosmic rays, as is the case with the real life the {{w|Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven (detector)|Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven detector}} (IMB), started in Lake Erie in 1979. Ponytail affirms Hair Bun Girl's assumption; however, based on the wording of her response, it is clear that Ponytail knows about Megan and Cueball's ulterior motives, which is eating salt in huge doses.

The IMB detector was initially used to search for proton decay in very pure water kept in the mine. Although the IMB became famous for detecting neutrinos from a supernova 1987a, it never observed a single proton decay out of 10^31 protons. At the time, even a single observation would have contributed to the Grand Unified Theory, predicting that protons eventually decay. In the comic, when Ponytail says "Yes, That's definitely why" it could refer to the large expectations that such detectors had promised.

The title text is intended to be absurd, and thus humorous. Salt is normally used to add flavor to otherwise bland foods. However, the "bland" food that the speaker is eating is itself a chunk of salt, and they wish to season their salt with yet more salt. The substance they are eating could be bland salt rock (a mixture of rock and salt in raw form resulting in a lower salt content).

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
[Hair Bun Girl, Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan are in a salt mine. Cueball and Megan are eating salt, while Hair Bun Girl and Ponytail talk in front of what appears to be a control console for a particle detector.]

Hair Bun Girl: So you've built this particle detector in a salt mine to block out cosmic rays?

Ponytail: Yes. That is definitely why.

Cueball and Megan [eating salt]: Homf Nomf Nomf

==Trivia==
*In real life salt mines are also used for exotic restaurants, such as the 'Wieliczka' Salt Mine, in Poland - a use for mines which is more rare than particle detectors. The Wieliczka mine contains a complete bar, hardwood seating, and gourmet chefs located 125m below ground. Dishes are seasoned with Wieliczka salt mine salt, and is used liberally in the selections. In the comic, Cueball and Megan and show as possible employees of the particle detector, but are instead eating something with salt, which could be a humorous reference to the lack of proton decay results.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Science]]

1615: Red Car

2016-01-17T19:57:42Z

173.245.56.63: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1615
| date = December 11, 2015
| title = Red Car
| image = red_car.png
| titletext = That guy only drives an alkaline car to overcompensate for his highly acidic penis.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a take on the common stereotype that men who drive large, expensive, and/or ostentatious cars (such as sports cars, highly-modified cars, and lifted pick-up trucks), do so in order to compensate for insecurity about their manhood. Typically this is summarized as saying they are compensating for having small penises.

{{w|Cyan}} is a greenish-blue color that is not a basic color term in most languages. It is the {{w|complementary color}} to red in the CMYK (subtractive) or RGB (additive) color models.

[[Megan]], upon seeing [[Hairy]] drive past in a red convertible, tells [[Cueball]] that Hairy must be compensating for his cyan colored penis.

This comic thus generalizes the original stereotype to an assumption that men drive cars that compensate for problems/properties with their penis (e.g. large car for small penis). Under this principle, a red car would complement (be the opposite of) a cyan penis. This is of course ridiculous, as red cars are quite common and cyan penises either extremely rare or nonexistent; but maybe Megan doesn't realize this.

There may also be a reference to the Doppler shift, where an object moving away (such as a galaxy) appears slightly redder than its true color. On the contrary, objects moving closer shift blue or cyan. However, cars cannot go nearly as fast to create a change in the perceived color.

In the title text another pair of opposites are mentioned: {{w|acid}} and {{w|alkaline}}. Since acidity is only relevant in liquids, and both cars and penises are usually solid, this is an extremely odd property to try to compensate for with one's choice of car. Additionally, most penises share the same basic chemical composition and therefore the same acidity. If your penis can be described as "highly acidic", you probably have a major medical problem and should not be buying cars. Again this could be Megan's lack of understanding, and since some models of cars are called [http://jalopnik.com/5327974/why-cant-you-get-a-nice-basic-car-these-days basic cars] (instead of a special red convertible) she could make the (wrong) assumption that they drive a basic car to compensating for their acidic penises.

Thus, this comic is referring to the actual definition of "compensation", which means to balance something out by adding another. If an image has too much red value on the RGB scale, one could shift it more towards neutral by adding to the blue value. And a solution with a low (acidic) pH can be neutralized by mixing it with an alkaline solution to bring its pH to a neutral value. (Whereas a big car will not balance out a small penis!)

An alternative interpretation to this just being about opposites is that of a more specific big vs small compensation. In each case the car represents something larger than Hairy's penis: in the comic - red has a "bigger" (longer) wavelength than cyan. Similarly in the title text, alkali has a "bigger" (higher) ph than acid. Of course against this alternative is that red has a smaller energy/frequency than cyan and that you would often talk about stronger acids, making a low ph count as strong, not small! Finally the joke loses some value if it is still just a matter of big/small rather than actual properties of the penis that are being compensated for.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are standing next to an intersection as Hairy drives by in a red convertible.]
:Megan: I bet he just drives that car to overcompensate for his cyan penis.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Penis]]

Talk:1602: Linguistics Club

2015-11-11T13:46:19Z

173.245.56.63:

If biannual is ambiguous, meaning either biennial (every two years) or semiannual (twice each year), then isn't sesquiannual similarly ambiguous, meaning either every 1.5 years (every 18 months), or 1.5 times a year (every 8 months)?
[[User:Pete|Pete]] ([[User talk:Pete|talk]]) 06:38, 11 November 2015 (UTC)
:If I'm confused I think of plants: Annuals, biennials and perennials - this last one being the important one as I *know* there is no such thing "perannual", so the ending I want must be "-ennial". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.147|162.158.34.147]] 08:58, 11 November 2015 (UTC)

Could it not mean it meets one and a half tines each year, so once during each year then every other new years it meets with half the meeting before the ball drop and the other half after? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.236.181|108.162.236.181]] 06:41, 11 November 2015 (UTC)

You know, I always thought the roots of "sesqui-" equated to "six quarters" (i.e. 1½). Today I learn that it's apparently "a half ''and (the original unit, about to be mentioned)''". I'm glad I read this place. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.125|162.158.152.125]] 06:49, 11 November 2015 (UTC)
: ...and then I nearly made a total mess of the editing, while trying to add info and 'correct' it, but I think it's back to how it should be, with the correct amount of appropriate justifications. (Note, "sesquicentennial" could be read as "one half (0.5) plus one hundred (100) years", i.e. 100.5 years, but the intended grammatical formation is "one-half-plus-one (1.5) hundred years", i.e. 150 years. Whilst "sesquicentannual" would doubtless be... give or take, according to rigor... something that occured every two days, ten hours and twenty-four minutes, I suppose.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.125|162.158.152.125]] 07:32, 11 November 2015 (UTC)
:I thought that the root of the Russian word "poltora" (same meaning) was "half of three", but it's actually "half to two". Now if I could only understand why the English phrase "half again as much" also means 1.5 times...
:On-topic, I understand "biannual" as "every 6 months", so by extension "sesquiannual" would mean "every 8 months". Not to be confused with "sesqui''ennial''", which does mean "every 18 months" (as in [http://absurdopedia.net/wiki/%D0%90%D0%B1%D1%81%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%8F:%D0%92%D1%8B%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8B_%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C%D0%B8_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%83%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%8F-5 Fifth Sesquiennial Best Article Elections] of Russian Uncyclopedia; sadly the Sixth Elections had not proceeded on the account of only having one eligible candidate, and there are still no eligible candidates for the Seventh, due in July). --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.79.37|141.101.79.37]] 07:52, 11 November 2015 (UTC)

::Well, 'round these parts it's generally said in a different order, as "half as much again", which is more obviously 50% on top, or 150%.
::If only I could stop people saying "four times less". One can only presume they mean 25%, a quarter (the reverse of the quarter being made "more by four times" to make the whole). But three times less would be a third, two times less a half and one times less... well, that breaks things. Rather than the unaltered 100%, parsing that suggests either 0%, or possibly half, if the reverse is "one time more (on top of the starting point)". In which case "four times less" is 20%, so that "four times more" adds four more 20%s to get you up to the 100%...
::Which is a totally different mathematical conundrum from removing 10% then adding 10% to get to 99%. (original - (10%*original) = 90%*original = midstep. midstep + (10%*midstep) = 90%*original + (9%*original) = 99% original.) Or adding 10% (110% original) then removing 10% (-11% original), which is commutatively the same pair of operations (*1.1, *0.9) in reverse.
::But that's probably not relevent. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.125|162.158.152.125]] 08:33, 11 November 2015 (UTC)

'biweekly' means both once every two weeks and twice a week. The explanation implies it only means once every two weeks. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.63|173.245.56.63]] 13:46, 11 November 2015 (UTC)

788: The Carriage

2015-09-27T21:46:13Z

173.245.56.63: Added a needed apostrophe

{{comic
| number = 788
| date = September 3, 2010
| title = The Carriage
| image = the carriage.png
| titletext = I learned from Achewood that since this poem is in ballad meter, it can be sung to the tune of Gilligan's Island. Since then, try as I might, I haven't ONCE been able to read it normally.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Emily Dickinson}} is a famous American poet, who wrote a poem called "[http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/stop.html Death]", about the personification of Death kindly stopping for her to pick her up.

{{w|Grand Theft Auto (series)|Grand Theft Auto (GTA)}} is a famous video game series, where the player frequently steals cars by grabbing their drivers and throwing them out of the car. In Xbox versions of GTA the Y-button is used to enter (steal) or exit a vehicle.

In this alternate edition of "Death" vs. Grand Theft Auto spinoff game by Emily Dickinson. Instead of [[Hair Bun Girl]] being carried off peacefully in Death's carriage, the girl violently carriage-jacks Death (as can be seen - she has pressed the Y-button) and takes over his carriage to use for her own purposes.

The title text refers to [[Randall]] learning from the web comic {{w|Achewood}} that a poem written in {{w|ballad meter}} can be sung to the tune of {{w|Gilligan's Island}}, a 1960s sitcom with a catchy [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfR7qxtgCgY intro song]. Since then he has not been able to read the poem normally, he always begins to hum the tune... He does seem rather displeased with this.

==Transcript==
:[Death with his scythe is driving a horse-drawn carriage. The text is written in two frames above and below the carriage:]
:Because I could not stop for death
:He kindly stopped for me

:[Hair Bun Girl grabs Death by the arm and pulls him off the carriage. There is a circle with the letter Y in the lower left corner. The text above the carriage is in a frame.]
:The carriage held but just oursel-
:Death: Hey!
:Hands holding Death: ''Grab''
:Circle: Y

:[Hair Bun Girl takes off in the carriage with the scythe, leaving Death behind on the ground in the dust from the carriage taking off.]
:Hair Bun Girl: Hyah!

:[Hair Bun Girl stands with her arms crossed, and Death's scythe next to her. The first text above her is printed as the official logo and the text below is in a type of square brackets.]
:Grand Theft Auto
:Emily Dickinson Edition"

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

1345: Answers

2014-05-06T13:17:10Z

173.245.56.63: The primary purpose of sleep may well be brainwashing. Lulu Xie et al. Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain, Science 18 October 2013: Vol. 342 no. 6156 pp. 373-377

{{comic
| number = 1345
| date = March 21, 2014
| title = Answers
| image = answers.png
| titletext = Stanford sleep researcher William Dement said that after 50 years of studying sleep, the only really solid explanation he knows for why we do it is 'because we get sleepy'.
}}

The primary purpose of sleep may well be brainwashing. Lulu Xie et al. Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain, Science 18 October 2013: Vol. 342 no. 6156 pp. 373-377.

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] claims that humans are driven by their curiosity, which is never-ending. [[Megan]] responds by noting that everyone spends approximately eight hours per day in an unconscious state of {{w|sleep}}, but no one has yet pinned down the biological purpose of sleep. Despite this obvious mystery, most people aren't "losing sleep over it"... This implies that Cueball's observed curiosity has a perceptible and proximate limit.

This is not to suggest that scientists ''aren't'' researching sleep; scientists frequently conduct {{w|Sleep study|sleep studies}} — we just haven't found any satisfactory answers yet. Some popular hypotheses are to allow the brain a period to consolidate memories and to give the body a chance to repair itself.

The title text quotes {{w|William Dement}}: people sleep "because we get sleepy." ([http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/05/sleep/max-text Secrets of sleep]). This of course is dodging the underlying issue. That this non-explanation is the best answer that a leading sleep researcher can provide, shows how little anyone knows about the subject. This may be an oblique reference to the French playwright Moliere [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dormitive_principle dormitive principle], who created a satirical character who claimed to have discovered the answer to a popular question: The reason opium makes someone sleepy, said the character, a doctor, was that it contained a "dormitive principle" (i.e., something that makes someone sleepy).

At [[203|Hallucinations]], Randall expressed similar surprise at the lack of interest in the nature of sleep.

The phrase "and nobody knows why" is commonly appended to urban legends, as in [http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/duckecho.asp A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why]. The implication is that something mysterious is going on and scientists are puzzled. [[1186: Bumblebees]] is another "nobody knows why" example.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are talking.]
:Cueball: Humans are defined by our curiosity, our hunger for answers.
:Megan: We all spend a third of our lives lying down with our eyes closed and '''''NOBODY KNOWS WHY.'''''
:Cueball: Touché.

{{comic discussion}}

1131: Math

2014-02-10T14:58:21Z

173.245.56.63:

{{comic
| number = 1131
| date = November 7, 2012
| title = Math
| image = math.png
| titletext = As of this writing, the only thing that's 'razor-thin' or 'too close to call' is the gap between the consensus poll forecast and the result.
}}

==Explanation==
In another election-themed comic (this one posted the day after the {{w|United States presidential election, 2012|2012 U.S. presidential election}} (see [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], [[1127: Congress]], and [[1130: Poll Watching]]), this comic shows a bar graph representing expected (see note below) electoral college votes in the election, including a dotted line indicating the 270 votes needed to win, a span of projections ("Forecast"), and the actual result.

The forecast range is above the 270 line, showing that Obama (the 'Blue Candidate' according to a convention used since the 2000 election) was always projected to win by statisticians like Nate Silver and others. The only question among these people was how much he was going to win by.

By contrast, most of the media was calling the election too close to call, with some news outlets actually projecting a Romney win. Essentially the combined pressures of right wing self referencing media denial, the large number of republican pundits, the tendency of media to give any issue two dramatically or fictionally equal voices (for supposed "fairness") regardless of the relative merits of the two sides, and the desire to present the election as a suspenseful "horse race" resulted in a lot of talking heads disbelieving the polls. These factors shaped the "too close to call" narrative, leading to the punch line of this story. You don't need to believe in science or statistics for it to effectively describe or predict reality. The progressively more radicalized republicans of this era are known for disregarding scientific or statistical consensus which reflects reality but does not conform to their world view.

For those unfamiliar with the US Presidential electoral process: unlike other political offices, the election for president is not a direct election. Instead, each state is apportioned a certain number of "electoral college" votes based on population. For the most part (and there is perennial discussion on whether this should be changed) the candidate that receives the most votes in a given state receives all the electoral college votes for that state. With 538 electoral votes total, receiving 270 electoral college votes ((half of 538) + 1) is sufficient to be declared president-elect. For this reason, sometimes one candidate actually receive more "popular" votes (more people voted for the candidate) but have fewer electoral college votes. This happened with the election of Andrew Jackson in 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and George W. Bush in 2000.

The electoral college votes are expectations until the official voting in early November.

==Transcript==
:Heading: Math
:[Bar chart showing 58% blue and 42% red. Header showing range between 53-63% with heading "Forecast". Arrow below pointing at meeting of blue and red sections of graph with heading "Result"]
:Caption: '''''Breaking:''''' To surprise of pundits, numbers continue to be best system for determining which of two things is larger.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Math]]