Simpsons Guide to Math

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Posted by ryuzaki0 on Thursday March 21, 2002 @01:12AM from the i-will-not-do-math-in-class dept.

tu-tone writes "The LA times has done an article titled "Simpsons analysts show how math figures into episodes" based off of work done by two professors Andrew Nestler and Sarah J. Greenwald. The work is a Guide to Appearances of Mathematics and Mathematicians on "The Simpsons" . They even gave a talk on it at Harvey Mudd College. It's a fun read." There's a transcript of one of their presentations available.

27 of 304 comments (clear)

Math... by ackthpt · 2002-03-21 01:18 · Score: 4, Funny

It embiggens the mind of the smallest man.
What? 'Math' is a perfectly cromulent word!

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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
D'OH by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-21 01:20 · Score: 4, Funny

marge's hair contains a hidden fractal
That article was too long by sg3000 · 2002-03-21 01:24 · Score: 5, Funny

My attention span isn't long enough to read the whole article. Damn TV! You've ruined my imagination! Just like you've ruined my ability to ... my ability to ...

[turns on Itchy and Scratchy]

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Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
So I'm sure you've all heard about... by flyingV · 2002-03-21 01:29 · Score: 3, Funny

... Britney Spears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics?
... and physics too ... by spoonist · 2002-03-21 01:35 · Score: 5, Funny

In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

- Homer Jay Simpson
Re:Euler's Equation by ackthpt · 2002-03-21 01:36 · Score: 2, Funny

Math, Physics and occasional fragments of pascal-like code, appear in the Foxtrot newspaper strip. It's rather fun to follow through Amend's work to see if he's goofed. :)
And, yeah, when you mention stuff like this to people they call you a nerd or geek, so it fits Slashdot...

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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Calculus by loydcc · 2002-03-21 01:41 · Score: 4, Funny

Derivitive of R cubed. rdrr. I think it was in episode 2.
Math Humour & Simpsons by BoBaBrain · 2002-03-21 01:48 · Score: 2, Funny

Lisa: What do you get if you cross a pig and a sheep?
 
 
Homer: I don't know lisa, what do I get if I cross a pig and a sheep?
 
 
Lisa: The length of the pig by the length of the sheep by the sin of the angle between them.
 
 
Homer: Go to your room.

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I am a Karma Library.
1. Re:Math Humour & Simpsons by spiro_killglance · 2002-03-21 03:23 · Score: 2, Funny
 
 Lisa: What do you get if your cross a elephant with a mountain climber.
 
 Homer: I said you go to your room
 
 Lisa: You can't cross a moutain climber, its a scalar
Mathematicians get to watch TV by dave_mcmillen · 2002-03-21 02:22 · Score: 2, Funny

It's always heartwarming to see someone find an excuse to watch many hours of television in the name of academics. You see this more often in sociology, but it's about damn time that mathematics and the physical sciences got in on the action.

I'm going to compile a list of occurrences of physics in the Simpsons -- "Episode 1: Homer drops a doughnut. Fails to obey Newton's Second Law." [drew guffaws from physics students]
No..No.. [e^(pi * j)] + 1 = 0 by bdoliver · 2002-03-21 02:23 · Score: 3, Funny
To clarify the Electrical Engineering stance on the subject its [e^(pi * j)] + 1 = 0.
In the words of a former professor:
- "All those math folks out there just don't know that "i" is already in use as a notation for current."
I am sure that moderation of this will be a direct result of the number of EE's with points at the momment. But its "j" damn it! jaaaayyyy!
1. Re:No..No.. [e^(pi * j)] + 1 = 0 by cgray4 · 2002-03-21 02:52 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Heh, look, it's an engineer lecturing about math. Next he'll tell us the exact value of pi.
  
  Also, isn't current denoted by "I"? It is in physics. Maybe engineers just mess with everyone's notation.
2. Re:No..No.. [e^(pi * j)] + 1 = 0 by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-21 11:30 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  still wrong, cock smoking bruce!
Homer vs. New York by VictimlessChris · 2002-03-21 02:32 · Score: 2, Funny

I didn't see the one where Barney loses Homer's car in New York.
Parking Authority tape: "...Please wait by your car between the hours of 9 & 5 for parking officer Steve... [man's voice] Grabowski"
Homer: "Oh...how many hours is that anyway? [looks at watch] 9..11..denominator..."

--
Then I put on a suit, because you can get away with anything if you're wearing a suit. Suits lie.
1. Re:Homer vs. New York by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-21 03:14 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  It'll be quite awhile before you see THAT one again, because the Khlau Kalash guy went nuts and brought down the towers.
  
  I guess he was whacked out of his gourd on crab juice.
Re:Euler's Equation by Space+Coyote · 2002-03-21 02:39 · Score: 2, Funny

Favourite T-Shirt I've ever seen, worn by a math prof of mine:
Math Profs are #-e^(i*pi)

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Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
Re:No jokes about maths? by the_consumer · 2002-03-21 02:47 · Score: 3, Funny

Why didn't the statistician have a significant other?

He was satisfied with 5 significant digits.

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"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, you're right." -
The Metric System and Grandpa's Car by rjthomas61 · 2002-03-21 03:22 · Score: 5, Funny

>Marge: Now I know you haven't liked some of my past suggestions, like switching to the metric system.
>Grampa: The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!

Let's see....
40 rods/Hogshead x
1 mile/320 rods x
1 Hogshead/63 gallons =
0.00198 miles/gallon or
504 gallons/mile

Perhaps Grampa drives an SUV?

--
Take off, every Hoser
Different interpretation of 3.14159265... joke by pomakis · 2002-03-21 03:48 · Score: 3, Funny

I think the writer of that article interpreted this joke differently than I did:
In Greenwald's favorite "Simpsons" math moment, Homer and Marge Simpson are considering sending their daughter Lisa to a school for the gifted.
As the camera pans, two young girls playing the game of patty-cake recite the following playground chant: "Cross my heart and hope to die / Here's the digits that make pi / 3.1415926535897932384..." and the camera pans away.
The joke, of course, is that the digits that make pi -- a circle's circumference divided by its diameter -- continue infinitely. The writers are clearly aware that pi is what's called an irrational number -- one that cannot be expressed in terms of the quotient of two integers in lowest terms. And to "get it," the viewers have to understand that it means you can never say what pi is exactly, in the same way you can say what 5 is.
I don't think the joke is "Ha ha! They're going to go on forever!". I think it's merely "Ha ha! They're so geeky that they memorized the first umpteen digits of pi for fun!".
1. Re:Different interpretation of 3.14159265... joke by Indras · 2002-03-21 04:01 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I think it's merely "Ha ha! They're so geeky that they memorized the first umpteen digits of pi for fun!"
  
  Nobody 3.14159 really 2653589 does 7932384 that, 62643383 do 27950288 they?
  
  --
  The speed of time is one second per second.
Re:Most likely limited to early seasons by oscarm · 2002-03-21 04:00 · Score: 2, Funny

I have to say that this is the Worst Post Ever.
Deep Space Homer by birder · 2002-03-21 04:17 · Score: 3, Funny

One of my favs:

Tom: Now let's look at the crew a little.

Man 2: They're a colorful bunch. They've been dubbed "the Three Musketeers". Heh heh heh --

Tom: And we laugh legitimately. There's a mathematician, a different _kind_ of mathematician, and a statistician.
Re:why only math'? by generic-man · 2002-03-21 04:23 · Score: 3, Funny

Lisa looks at Comic Book Guy's shirt reading "C:\DOS / C:\DOS\RUN / RUN\DOS\RUN". She reads it aloud.
Lisa: Only one person in a million would find that funny.
Frink: Yes, we call that the "Dennis Miller ratio." M'hey.

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For more information, click here.
Re:Euler's Equation by Uri · 2002-03-21 04:48 · Score: 5, Funny

In it's traditional form, [e^(pi*i)]+1=0, it relates the 5 most important constants in math...

...and is beaten only by 0*i*pi*e = 1+-1
people.... **people**... by Inataysia · 2002-03-21 05:50 · Score: 2, Funny

pi is exactly three!!!

m'hey...
Re:Euler's Equation by glyph42 · 2002-03-21 05:54 · Score: 3, Funny

In it's traditional form, [e^(pi*i)]+1=0 it relates the 5 most important constants in math.

Ooh! Not only that, but it uses each one exactly once. Also, it uses each of the basic arithmetic operators exactly once: +, *, ^, =.

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Music speeds up when you yawn, but does not change pitch.
The difference between today and tomorrow. by NanoGator · 2002-03-21 06:24 · Score: 3, Funny

Okay... so something interesting to YOU didn't make it. I'll give you the Nasa one, but I have to side with Slashdot's decision on the rest of them.

Simpsons: Fun, interesting to talk about with my friends. Flexible ceramics? ZZzzz. How many years before we see something result from that?

Resident Evil movie: tempted to see that, Slashdot saved me money today. 1mm Microscope: Woopie. We'll see results from that in what, 5-10 years?

Self heating can: lots of us bachelors don't like to cook. This could also be quite useful in survival gear. It's going to be out SOON. (According to their marketing brocure...). The Google one you mentioned made it.

Please help my project? Due date NOW.

See the pattern? I'm not in any way saying that ultimately the news you suggested is less important, but the big difference is time. If something is going to happen years from now, then it has lower prescedence on what's happening today.

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"Derp de derp."