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Math with Cohen and Groening
An anonymous reader writes "While
math on The Simpsons and
math on Futurama has been covered by Slashdot before, new background on some of the scientific references is covered in a long transcription of A Futurama Math Conversation with David X Cohen and a short summary of a math club talk to Matt Groening and a number of writers from both shows. Some amusing tidbits are on these pages - for example, when the Simpsons writers contacted NASA for the 40,000th digit of pi, NASA actually sent them a printout of all 40,000 digits."
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i love the simpsons! where else could a fat slob like homer get some bomb-ass pussy like marge?
Its not their fault that you don't get it.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
-William Brendel
The only place where pi is funny is when it smacks into someone's face, Three Stooges style.
42
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NO FAIR! You changed the outcome by measuring it!
-William Brendel
An article about the Simpsons, and 19 of the first 20 replies are about pi and the other one's about how hot a blue-haired, yellow-skinned cartoon character is.
Professor Frink: Gentleman please.... can I just.... your attention please.... ahem. PI IS EQUAL TO 3!
Audience: *Gasp*
In ninth grade algebra, I walk into class and the teacher had put an infinity symbol on the whiteboard. I, being the smart ass I am says,
"Mr. Dewey, who killed eight?"
Mr. Dewey says without missing a beat,
"Pi, It's an irrational number."
(Feel free to throw tomatoes at my post. But I did warn you that it was corny, plus this is as humorous as I get at 2am EDT.)
"Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
I'm afraid there are a bit more than that.
#include ".signature"
mmmmmmmmm, pi.
I am so smart!
I am so smart!
S-M-R-T!
I mean S-M-A-R-T!
You obviously missed the part that said they printed five pages per digit and missed three of the zeros in 40,000,000.
I'm a freethinker. I let cartoons tell me how to vote.
as the comic book guy would say worst comedic pi reference, ever
He actually asked NASA for the figures for their annual paper budget, and they sent him a 17.3 million page printout....
[Pi has] 40,000 digits?
Yes it does. Here's all 40,000 of them (in base 10):
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
fuck you shithead
You're the one at NASA who printed out the 40,000 digits?
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
I recall a joke by comedian Steven Wright (I think):
I went to a math conference recently, and the hotel at the conference labelled all the rooms with math symbols.
Mine was Pi. Easy enough to find, but it took FOREVER to dial on the hotel phone system.
"That's like asking the square root of a million. No one will ever know." -- Nelson
Hey, as Dave Barry said, the NASA motto is: "This motto alone cost $18 billion."
"It's overkill, of course. But you can never have too much overkill." - Anonymous Slashdot Coward
NASA actually sent them a printout of all 40,000 digits
I'm shocked that the Simpsons writers not only knew that there *was* a last digit, but also knew that the last one was the 40,000th. Even *I* didn't know that! They must've had some help. They must have some Ph.D. mathematicians working on the writing staff. Or maybe one of them is related to a math professor.
Or maybe I'm just rationalizing.