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Math with Cohen and Groening

Posted by Zonk on from the learning-is-fun dept.

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."

26 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Why NASA? by dj245 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't know why they needed NASA for that. Pifast will spit out the first 40,000th digits in a very short time on modern computers. A million is a reasonable benchmarking number for that program. Finding the 40,000th digit in the text file takes longer than calculating it.

    --
    Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
    1. Re:Why NASA? by IvyMike · · Score: 5, Informative

      I don't know why they needed NASA for that. Pifast will spit out the first 40,000th digits in a very short time on modern computers.

      That was in episode 9F20, which aired 5/6/93. No Pifast, no google; heck, NCSA Mosaic wasn't even around until June.

    2. Re:Why NASA? by adpowers · · Score: 4, Informative

      And these were techy guys.

      I read most of the article. A few years later (1995), David X Cohen wrote a small program to find numbers that fudge to make it look like Fermat's Last Theorem is false (near misses). He used the program to find three numbers that made the equation roughly equal, as in, if viewed on a calculator will low resolution (only showing 8-9 digits), they answers would appear to be equal. Here is one of the two equations used in the Simpsons:

      1782^12 + 1841^12 =1922^12

      Anyway, my point was that they knew how to write code.

      Andrew

    3. Re:Why NASA? by Jugalator · · Score: 4, Funny

      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!
  2. Re:The simpsons must have... by 0racle · · Score: 5, Funny

    Its not their fault that you don't get it.

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  3. Ah, so... by wbren · · Score: 5, Funny
    NASA actually sent them a printout of all 40,000 digits
    ...that's why NASA's annual paper budget is $17.3 million.
    --
    -William Brendel
    1. Re:Ah, so... by fbform · · Score: 3, Informative
      http://3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716 9399375105820974944592.com/.

      --
      Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
  4. Instead of NASA... by guyfromindia · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They could have quickly called Daniel Tammet http://www.spring.org.uk/2005/05/daniel-tammet-boy -with-incredible.htm
    Daniel Tammet is an autistic savant. He can perform mind-boggling mathematical calculations at breakneck speeds.
    He can figure out cube roots quicker than a calculator and recall pi to 22,514 decimal places.
    :-)

    1. Re:Instead of NASA... by wbren · · Score: 5, Funny
      ...recall pi to 22,514 decimal places
      A lot of good that would have done the writers. After all, would a joke about the 22,514th be as funny as one about the 40,000th digit? I think not! That's what makes The Simpsons such a high quality show. They don't stop at 22,514 like those savants do.
      --
      -William Brendel
  5. Re:simpsons by Ed+Thomson · · Score: 3, Funny

    i love the simpsons! where else could a fat slob like homer get some bomb-ass pussy like marge?

    Hey, i'm a fat slob that gets bomb-ass pussy

  6. Re:The simpsons must have... by locokamil · · Score: 3, Funny

    The only place where pi is funny is when it smacks into someone's face, Three Stooges style.

  7. And it's down to a quantum finish.. by MustardMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    NO FAIR! You changed the outcome by measuring it!

  8. Maple is good at this by jfern · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It just took about 20 seconds to evaluate
    evalf(Pi,40000).

    In case anyone cares:
    The 40000th digit is a 5.
    The 40000th digit after the decimal is a 1.

  9. Re:NASA? by rayde · · Score: 4, Insightful

    i believe that episode aired in 1993... the internet was a different place back then.

  10. I love Slashdot! by bowloframen · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  11. Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? by Eskarel · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The beauty of shows like the Simpsons, and to an even greater extent South Park, is not so much that they deal with every single important issue, it's that they bring semi-important issues to viewers who would not otherwise be reached.

    Most of my extended family are hard line Catholic republicans, they not only voted for Bush, but did so with joy in their hearts. They don't listen to much of anything anyone tried to tell them about either alternate viewpoints or even their own beliefs.

    However, many of my younger cousins watch South Park and/or the Simpsons and are exposed to ideas which contradict their own, they may not immediately see it, but they are exposed to them without automatically tuning out. This is why these shows are great, because the gags allow a message to get across to people who don't listen to other sources.

  12. Pi is da shit by Man+in+Spandex · · Score: 4, Funny

    Professor Frink: Gentleman please.... can I just.... your attention please.... ahem. PI IS EQUAL TO 3!
    Audience: *Gasp*

  13. Corny Pi Joke by Adrilla · · Score: 5, Funny

    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)
    1. Re:Corny Pi Joke by MyLongNickName · · Score: 3, Funny

      fuck you, if I ever meet you I will kick your ass
      Wow. I hope Adrilla never shows up at your mom's basement then. He should be safe anywhere else.

      --
      See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  14. All 40,000 digits? by eklitzke · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm afraid there are a bit more than that.

    --
    #include ".signature"
  15. Re:The simpsons must have... by mranchovy · · Score: 5, Funny

    mmmmmmmmm, pi.

    --
    I am so smart!
    I am so smart!
    S-M-R-T!
    I mean S-M-A-R-T!
  16. Why NASA? by Grendel+Drago · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why'd they have to contact NASA? And don't give me any crap about it being 1993; Project Gutenberg's pi to a million digits was released before 1993.

    --grendel drago

    --
    Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
  17. they got the digit from two sources by blonde+rser · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I never knew that the simpsons also asked NASA for the the 40,000th digit of Pi. But I've known for a while that they asked David Bailey for it as well (Bailey is one of the B's from BBP numbers... which is the formula to calculate an arbitrary digit of Pi in Hex). You can actually see a picture of the fax that the simpsons sent him on the 4th page of this pdf http://www.cecm.sfu.ca/personal/jborwein/pi-slides .pdf
    I always thought that it was pretty cool that they took the trouble to just find out what the right digit was but now I know they actually decided to confirm it as well. That's pride in ones craft right there.

  18. Re:Really? by Uber+Banker · · Score: 4, Funny

    [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

  19. Math conference by AgentPhunk · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  20. All of them.... by Rufus88 · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.