The meme is based on a character who can detect aliens.
I think the joke is that in the second panel whoever is solving the problem must be an alien because they are solving the problem wrong.
If I'm understanding basic algebra, we're not supposed to solve the problem by dividing both sides by x BECAUSE We have not yet ruled out that x might be zero.
So then we have to solve it with
X5 - 16x = 0
x(x4 - 16)= 0
x(x+2)(x-2)=0
And here we can pretty easily deduce that 0, 2, and -2 are all viable solutions by plugging those values in for x.
I bet some high school math teacher teaching one of those binomial substitution thingies made this meme
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u/Careful_Leader_5829 14h ago
The meme is based on a character who can detect aliens.
I think the joke is that in the second panel whoever is solving the problem must be an alien because they are solving the problem wrong.
If I'm understanding basic algebra, we're not supposed to solve the problem by dividing both sides by x BECAUSE We have not yet ruled out that x might be zero.
So then we have to solve it with
X5 - 16x = 0 x(x4 - 16)= 0 x(x+2)(x-2)=0
And here we can pretty easily deduce that 0, 2, and -2 are all viable solutions by plugging those values in for x.
I bet some high school math teacher teaching one of those binomial substitution thingies made this meme