"It was my understanding that there would be no…

“It was my understanding that there would be no math” (or “I was told there would be no math”) is a saying that has been printed on many images. It is a line that a student might say. Many people do not like math and are not proficient in the subject.

The popular math joke comes from the television show Saturday Night Live, on September 18, 1976. The “Debate ‘76” sketch featured President Gerald Ford (played by actor Chevy Chase) against Jimmy Carter (played by actor Dan Aykroyd). Ford was asked a complex question about economics. He was dumbfounded, and answered, “It was my understanding that there would be no math…during the debates.”

“I was told there would be no math involved” was printed in The Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, NC) on January 11, 1991. “I was told there would be no math” was posted on the newsgroup rec.games.trivia on July 7, 1995. “I was told there would be no math….” was posted on the newsgroup rec.gardens on September 2, 1995. “I was told there would be no math” was printed in the New York (NY) Times on March 25, 1999.

SNL Transcripts Tonight
SNL Transcripts: Lily Tomlin: 09/18/76: Debate ’76
Saturday Night Live Transcripts
Season 2: Episode 1
Debate ’76
Ruth Clusen…..Lily Tomlin
President Gerald R. Ford…..Chevy Chase
Jimmy Carter…..Dan Aykroyd
Tommie Bell…..Tom Davis
Liz Montgomery…..Jame Curtin
Tom Burke…..John Belushi
Earl Roland…..Garrett Morris
(...)
Liz Montgomery: Yes. Mr. President, you said that the Humphrey-Hawkins bill will cost a possible sixty billion dollars. But isn’t it true that the jobs provided by the bill will create up to a hundred and fifty billion dollars in increased production — using Walter Heller’s figure that for every one percent unemployed, there is a resulting thirty-seven billion dollar loss in GNP. Now, at hte present rate of taxation on GNP of thirty-nine percent, doesn’t this come to about the same sixty billion dollars in increased revenue?

President Gerald R. Ford: [ sweating ] It was my understanding that there would be no math… during the debates. Now, I — I am prepared to answer any domestic, uh — questions. Perhaps you would like to know something about me and Betty? [ buzzer sounds ] Excuse me again, my fellow Americans.

Vimeo
SNL-No-Math

YouTube
It was my Understanding that there Would be no Math……..
Vincent Celetti
Nov 11, 2021
Classic Chevy Chase Line from SNL

Newspapers.com
11 January 1991, The Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, NC), “DTH Final Picks of the Week,” pg. 7, col. 4:
Scott (I can’t believe I’m losing to these guys—I was told there would be no math involved) Gold ...

Google Groups: misc.fitness
fat in skim milk
Lonnie Santella
Mar 31, 1995, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
It was my understanding that there would be no math… 😊

-Just a joke

Google Groups: rec.games.trivia
No Math
Greg Eichelberger
Jul 8, 1995, 3:00:00 AM
On July 7, 1995, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

wrote:
>One of my friends keeps repeating this quote on the golf course, and it’s
>killing me trying to remember what movie it’s from. The quote is:

>“I was told there would be no math”

>My friends and I have some ideas, but no one can remember for sure.

>Thanks for any help.

Don’t mention it, Rob. That quote came from the second season of “Saturday Night Live”. There was a sketch about the Presidential debates between Ford (played by Chevy Chase) and Carter (Danny Aykroyd), when one of the panel came up with a query about economics filled with a bunch of numbers.

Chase (as Ford) looked confused and then uttered the line in question.

Later on, he fell over the podium and was injured in real life, just like Ford had done so many times, in real life.

As far as a movie, I don’t know, but this is where I first heard the quote.

Googlw Groups: rec.gardens
Soaking Seeds
Keith
Sep 2, 1995, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
I was told there would be no math….

Newspapers.com
25 March 1999, Manhattan (KS) Mercury, “In praise of computer Luddites” by Dirk Johnson (New York Times), pg. B10, col. 2:
I have always been in the bottom half of the technology class. That is partly how I ended up in journalism. I was told there would be no math.

Google Groups: alt.sports.baseball.sf-giants
opinions, not statistics
Zen Bitz
Apr 19, 1999, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
“UH, I was told that there WOULD be no math.”