Math for English Majors

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First annotation on Nov 21st, 2024. Last on Jul 14th, 2025.

In English, there are three basic kinds of sentences. Declaratives are statements ("The sky is blue"); interrogatives are questions ("Is the sky blue?"); and imperatives are commands ("Go paint the sky blue").
Not every whodunit is so pleasing. In some cases, you may run into a cheap or uninteresting solution, like a mystery novel that's obvious from the second page. This is known as a trivial solution. For example, x2 + 2x = x3 is a pretty juicy whodunit: "A number's cube is equal to its square plus its double." However, before you get to any interesting solutions, you stumble into a boring one: x = 0. Zero's cube, square, and double are all zero, so the equation boils down to 0 + 0 = 0. True, but dull. In this way, a trivial solution is logically satisfying, but not emotionally satisfying. It satisfies your equation, but not your curiosity.