Quod erat demonstrandum

Cogito ergo sum Logic and rhetoric

Key articles

Logical fallacy Syllogism Argument

General logic

Appeal to fiction Selection bias Spider-Man fallacy Sanctioning the devil Existential assumption Straw man

Bad logic

My enemy's enemy Gish Gallop Argumentum ad baculum Holmesian fallacy Relativist fallacy کلمات قلمبه سلمبه v - t - e

Quod Erat Demonstrandum (normally abbreviated to Q.E.D.) is a Latin phrase that means literally "that which was to be demonstrated."

In normal English, this means "thus it is proven", or "so there, nyer nyer nyer"; the Latin equivalent of a mic drop. It is used formally after the last line of a mathematics proof, and colloquially in discussion or argument in a similar fashion.

Confusion

Due to the scary nature of Latin, many people have been misled into thinking it actually stands for "quite easily done", which stems from math teachers who — thinking they are clever — tell this joke without identifying it as such.

This ignorance is actually a godsend (or, alternatively, a curse), as it allows the educated to correct their cretinous peers in as condescending a manner as they feel necessary.

As a fallacy

See the main articles on this topic: Danth's law and Begging the question

While fancily ending a syllogism of one's proposal with "Q.E.D." totally sounds like something a college dean — learned at the topic at hand — might do, doing so is actually not the least bit indicative of said argument being logically acceptable.

Here's an example of the "Q.E.D. stamp" being applied to a blatantly fallacious argument:

P1: 10% of car thefts are committed by left-handed people.

P2: Half of all polar bears are left-handed.

C: There's a 5% chance your car was stolen by a polar bear.

Q.E.D.

As such, treat unexamined claims of Q.E.D for what they most likely are — mere pretentious Latin shorthand for shouting "Nailed it!!" while touring the room for high-fives.

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