Imo, as soon as you write it as 0.25 multiplied by a fraction it works, because you can then easily see that it's the same as (1/4)*2

I know, but to me this meme doesn't make sense to me unless I assume the person reading the math Expression is interpreting its real world application.

25 / 5 = 5 and nobodies head exploded. That's just evaluating a math Expression. .25 / .5 = .5 is the same. It's not a "my brain can't comprehend how to evaluate expressions" as the meme suggests.

However, if someone who doesnt do much algebra thought to themselves "I need half of a quarter", then I could understand why their brain might "hurt" as the meme suggests, for a similar reason why adding 20 degree Celsius water to 20 degree Celsius water doesn't make 40 degree Celsius wate

I'm probably reading into it too much, but the meme just doesn't feel like a "mind fuck that keeps me up at night". I'm looking for reasons to try and explain it, but it's just a math expression at the end of the day