The Caring Continuum is an illustration that explains the usage of the phrase "I couldn't care less".

The illustration was created by Kevin MacLeod and is originally from Incompetech.com.

In September of 2008, Roasty replied:

This is the way I look at it:

Since I say "I could care less" as opposed to "I couldn't care less" I have a completely different meaning formula.

y=the topic

x=how much I care

"I couldn't care less" = y<x = How much I care is greater than the topic = In non-weird math lingo: about can only be more or equal to what assumed amount of caring that am doing.

On the other hand, take away the prefix of "not" and you get:

"I could care less" = y>x = How much I care is less than the topic = In non-weird math lingo: How much I care about the topic is less than the assumed amount, so no matter the assumed amount, I still can not care at all. Granted I may care because I say "could" which means I can care less as opposed to "I care less" so therefore there is no definite answer, but hopefully your judgment will be capable of deciding the answer.