Skip to main content
Search IntMath
Close

Revenge of the math nerds - NUMB3RS

By Murray Bourne, 17 Oct 2005

I saw an episode of "NUMB3RS" last night. The show is about an FBI agent who uses his mathematician brother to solve crimes. It is apparently "based on real cases" according to the official NUMB3RS site (which is no longer available).

Things I liked:

  • Mathematics is respected and even elevated to something useful (The mantra "We all use math every day" was repeated a few times, and there was grudging respect given to the main mathematician character).
  • Some familiar actors in new roles (Anthony Heald from Boston Public and Peter MacNicol from Ally McBeal)

Things I didn't like:

  • The rather corny frantic 'back of the envelope' calculations that the mathematician was doing on his blackboard. Not so realistic.
  • The use of the term "equation" throughout (as in 'Must be a great equation' when they solved the crime) rather than "model".
  • Peter MacNicol's character and acting was very weak...

Be the first to comment below.

Leave a comment




Comment Preview

HTML: You can use simple tags like <b>, <a href="...">, etc.

To enter math, you can can either:

  1. Use simple calculator-like input in the following format (surround your math in backticks, or qq on tablet or phone):
    `a^2 = sqrt(b^2 + c^2)`
    (See more on ASCIIMath syntax); or
  2. Use simple LaTeX in the following format. Surround your math with \( and \).
    \( \int g dx = \sqrt{\frac{a}{b}} \)
    (This is standard simple LaTeX.)

NOTE: You can mix both types of math entry in your comment.

top

Tips, tricks, lessons, and tutoring to help reduce test anxiety and move to the top of the class.