Editing 19: George Clinton

{{comic
| number    = 19
| date      = October 12, 2005
| title     = George Clinton
| before    = <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Wednesday%3A%20George%20Clinton Original title</span>]: '''Wednesday: George Clinton'''</big></big>
| image     = george_clinton.jpg
| titletext = I still wish it were true.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton}} is an American musician most famous for his funk music and wild hair style. His recorded music features themes of space, sci-fi, technology, and futurism. As [[Randall]] says, he had attempted to spread around an {{w|urban legend}} that George Clinton had a {{w|Bachelor of Arts}} degree in mathematics, but he found himself believing it was true. This behavior is related to {{w|pseudologia fantastica}}, which is more commonly known as pathological or compulsive lying. This comic references the associated behavior that an "individual may be aware they are lying, or may believe they are telling the truth, being unaware that they are relating fantasies." These individuals may eventually stop the lie as demonstrated by the title text, which indicates that at some later time, the individual realized that the rumor was not true, but wishes it to be so.

The equations on the board are {{w|laplace transforms}} of functions. The first Laplace transform has a mismatched left parenthesis, which would be the topic of [[859: (]]. The second formula is not the {{w|inverse Laplace transform}} as stated, as it differs from the actual Mellin's inverse formula by its bounds and a missing factor.

An example of George Clinton's work most appropriate to this comic is the song "Mathematics" from the 1996 album {{w|T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M.}}. (The Awesome Power of a Fully Operational Mothership).

:I count the moments we're apart. And add them up mathematically 
:and multiply them by the kisses supposedly I've been missing. 
:Divided by the attention not to mention the affection. 
:Subtract that from your gross potential and see I ain't missin' none. 
::Cause any percentage of you is as good the whole pie. 
::Any fractions thereof brings dividends of interest. 
::Any percentage of you is as good as the whole pie. 
::Any fractions thereof brings dividends of love. 
:I take the square root and get boxed in every time. 
:When I know the shortest distance between two points is in a straight line. 
:I'ma go into you, I'ma come into you two times, and carry the fun over the one to where we equal one.

==Transcript==
:[George Clinton uses a baton to point to the bottom of two equations on a blackboard. There is one more equation and a diagram on another blackboard to the right, which is cut off. There is text above:]
:I once tried to start the urban legend that George Clinton has a B.A. in mathematics

:[On the left blackboard there are two formulas:]
:L(F(t) = F(s) = ∫<sup>∞</sup><sub>0</sub>f(t)e<sup>-st</sup>dt

:L<sup>-1</sup> (F(s)) = f(t) = ∫<sup>∞</sup><sub>0</sub> F(t)e<sup>st</sup>dt

:[On the right blackboard there is part of a formula and a diagram with an x-y scale and three other lines touching down to the base. Above these lines are some numbers that are partly indecipherable.]
:γ<sub>n</sub> = 2<sup>n/12</sup>K

:  0 2 <sup>3</sup>
:&#8970;&#8970;&#8970;&#8970;

:[Below George and the blackboards is text:]
:...but I wanted it to be true so badly that I started believing it myself.

==Trivia==
This was the eighteenth comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[18: Snapple]], and the next one was [[20: Ferret]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 18]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]