What if the IRS discovered the quadratic equation?

The IRS's job isn't easy. But it's hard to believe that their forms couldn't be, well, a bit simpler. Daniel Velleman, a mathematician at Amherst College, clearly agrees. Back in 2007, he imagined the IRS trying to walk filers through the quadratic formula. The resulting form will feel scarily real to anyone who has spent the day doing their taxes:

Hat tip to Steven Strogatz. Of course, there's sometimes a good — or, depending on how you look at it, very bad — reason the IRS doesn't make things simpler for taxpayers.

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