Math with Cohen and Groening 187
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."
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Really? (Score:5, Funny)
Yes it does. Here's all 40,000 of them (in base 10):
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
Re:Really? (Score:2)
Re:Really? (Score:2)
Only at
Re:Really? (Score:2)
Re:Really? (Score:2)
Only at Wendy's [boingboing.net].
simpsons (Score:2, Funny)
Re:simpsons (Score:3, Funny)
Hey, i'm a fat slob that gets bomb-ass pussy
Re:simpsons (Score:2, Funny)
Re:simpsons (Score:2, Informative)
Re:simpsons (Score:2, Funny)
Re:simpsons (Score:2)
You'd probably have to be there. It was funny.
Why NASA? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why NASA? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why NASA? (Score:5, Funny)
You're the one at NASA who printed out the 40,000 digits?
Re:Why NASA? (Score:2)
(disclaimer: this is speculative hyperbole, i would presume that it is so, but i don't know for a fact!)
Re:Why NASA? (Score:5, Informative)
That was in episode 9F20, which aired 5/6/93. No Pifast, no google; heck, NCSA Mosaic wasn't even around until June.
Re:Why NASA? (Score:2)
That didn't sound right to me, and indeed I was misled by a too-quick reading of this page [uiuc.edu] (Which seems like it must be talking about Mosaic on Windows?).
The actual original Mosaic release notice, on March 15th, 1993: NCSA Mosaic for X 0.10 available. [google.com]
Re:Why NASA? (Score:2)
I'm giving up on pretending I can give a definitive answer, but this looks like the original announcement of Mosaic, in February, 1993. [google.com]
Re:Why NASA? (Score:2, Redundant)
Re:Why NASA? (Score:2)
Ah, so... (Score:5, Funny)
Funny? (Score:3, Informative)
that's why NASA's annual paper budget is $17.3 million.
$17.3 million? That's stretching it [ehrlesparty.com], even for a joke. With about 80 digits per line, 50 lines per page, and 40,000 digits per document, how many trees do ten [google.com] pages kill?
Re:Funny? (Score:1)
Re:Funny? (Score:2, Funny)
The figure is correct (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Funny? (Score:3, Funny)
Make that 11 pages... (Score:2)
You forgot the decimal point, which unfortunately causes the printout to overflow to an 11th page.
I guess the authors could have just thrown away the first 10 pages and kept the last one, which (conveniently enough) would contain all the information they wanted.
Re:Ah, so... (Score:4, Informative)
Re: Best. Domain name. EVER! (Score:2)
wonder if slashdot-crew couldn't make an anual award for jewels like these =)
of course, *these commits ought to live up to some quantitative Geekness
All of them.... (Score:4, Funny)
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.
Instead of NASA... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Instead of NASA... (Score:1)
Re:Instead of NASA... (Score:5, Funny)
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197 (Score:1, Interesting)
it's 7, the answer is always 7.
Yay. (Score:1)
Re:Yay. (Score:2)
Re:Yay. (Score:2)
Example: A rock comes flying through the window, Homer says: "Ah! A Flying rock! Call a geologist!"
Or the Futurama episode I, Roommate where Bender goes on a sober, er, bender, with neon signs flashing by like "public library" and "boring geology lecture".
And Lis
If it's base 16 digit, you can find it fast (Score:2, Interesting)
Algorithm [hmc.edu]
If you want decimal digits, it's a bit more complicated.
And the 40,000th and 40,001st digits of Pi are (Score:2, Funny)
And it's down to a quantum finish.. (Score:5, Funny)
Maple is good at this (Score:5, Interesting)
evalf(Pi,40000).
In case anyone cares:
The 40000th digit is a 5.
The 40000th digit after the decimal is a 1.
Re:Maple is good at this (Score:2)
Yeah, but how many digits are there BEFORE the decimal?
MadCow
(and yes, that IS sarcastic...!)
I love Slashdot! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I love Slashdot! (Score:2)
Hell yes, those crazy punk Japanese girls are hot!
Original story (Score:2)
Nerds, where are thou? (Score:1)
All 40,000 digits? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:All 40,000 digits? (Score:2, Insightful)
Why NASA? (Score:5, Interesting)
--grendel drago
Re:Why NASA? (Score:2)
Also, who wants to shift through million digits just to find one number?
Because in 1993 (Score:2)
Re:Why NASA? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Why NASA? (Score:2)
Sure, you could write code to do it for you, but that's a techy thinking; it wouldn't have occurred to most people, especially back in '93 when PC usage was much less pronounced.
Re:Why NASA? (Score:2)
Re:Why NASA? (Score:5, Informative)
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
Too easy to disprove (Score:2)
This one's too easy to disprove. Whatever digit 1782^12 ends in, it ends in the same digit that 1922^12 ends in, since each base ends in a "2". That means the difference between the two must be a number ending in "0". But 1841^12 clearly ends in a "1".
Re:Too easy to disprove (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Too easy to disprove (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It's subtler than that. (Score:2)
Gutenberg release dates are only accurate after 10,000; before that, they're overly pessimistic. The project had planned to release etexts at a certain rate, but when they'd completed their planned quota through 2006 by 2003, they gave up on that idea.
Common mistake, though.
--grendel drag
they got the digit from two sources (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:they got the digit from two sources (Score:3, Informative)
Looks like David Bailey worked for NASA [lbl.gov] in 1993.
Math conference (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Silly comedian (Score:2)
(Look at a phone keypad)
I've used the Simpsons to teach math concepts (Score:2)
Even though "Astro 1" was for people with limited math and science backgrounds, there was a lot of really good content in it, at least as taught by the prof who taught it the two times I was the TA for it.
One thing that had to be covered in the basics was the concept of orders of magnitude. When we talked about orders of magnitude, I had to explain to the students what the columns mean
Re:I've used the Simpsons to teach math concepts (Score:2)
Let's stick to the left of the decimal point. The first column to the left (the last one before the decimal point) represents "ones." We tend to use a "base ten" or "decimal" number system because we have ten fingers on our hands. In decimal numbers, the next column to the left of the "ones" column represents tens (multiples of the number you get by adding 1 to 9). So, for example, the decimal number "47" represents "four tens plus seven o
nobody RTFA? (Score:2)
One of the things that fascintated me in the article was his discussion of his high school experience and the lack of ridicule for brains/interests in education. I would have killed for that. . . most of high school felt like a quest to hide interest in knowledge (or face ridicule, which was inevitable anyway - had I known THAT little tidbit I may have cared less).
Re: (Score:2)
Re:nobody RTFA? (Score:2)
I suppose that this changed my outward personality. I ended up socializing with people easier. I even ended up making aquaintences with people of various cliques that I would never have interacted with in the past. I ended up going to occasional parties. I even had girlfriends.
Highschool will never be "golden years" l
Re:nobody RTFA? (Score:2)
After I got out of College, I met a guy who I knew as one of the "bullies". He's actually a really cool person... has taught me a lot on how to keep my guard up when people try to trample on me.
However, all through high school, all I did was just be an observer. I'd never offer any real reason for anyone to mess with me... most of the bullies there would slam on you to get a reaction, and I learned that early... But, even better, to give them a reaction that stings.
Math Nelsonstyle (Score:2, Funny)
Why ask Nasa? (Score:2)
Re:The simpsons must have... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The simpsons must have... (Score:3, Funny)
Corny Pi Joke (Score:5, Funny)
"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.)
Re:Corny Pi Joke (Score:4, Funny)
Wow. I hope Adrilla never shows up at your mom's basement then. He should be safe anywhere else.
Mmm... pi (Score:3, Interesting)
Pi is now funny?
Of course pi(e) is funny. Haven't you watched Wobbl and Bob [jolt.co.uk]? Of course The Simpsons would pick it up to display a contrast between the world views of Lisa Simpson and her father [garmentdistrict.com].
Re:The simpsons must have... (Score:1)
You may not understand it now, but you'll get pi in the sky when you die, that's no lie.
KFG
Re:The simpsons must have... (Score:2)
but you'll get pi in the sky when you die, that's no lie.
Would worshipping 3.14... as a diety be a pious act? Would you make the ultimate piacular sacrifice to become one with the circle? Personally, I'll just anxious piaffe and see what happens.
Pi is da shit (Score:5, Funny)
Audience: *Gasp*
Re:The simpsons must have... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The simpsons must have... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The simpsons must have... (Score:2)
Re:The simpsons must have... (Score:2)
No. Why? Because our world has failed. That's why.
Re:The simpsons must have... (Score:2)
It was a one-off comment, and it was inaccurate in many ways. After writing, I realized I should throw a j into there as well, just in case you want to use the above equation to derive a transfer function.
Re:The simpsons must have... (Score:2)
Re:NASA? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:NASA? (Score:2)
Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? (Score:2)
A little laughter can be worth a shitload of perspective.
Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? (Score:2, Troll)
I mean, Clinton lied about a few blow jobs, whereas Bush lied about the reasons he went to war.
Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? (Score:2)
Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? (Score:2)
Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean.... Voting between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich? Classic!
On the other hand, The Simpsons and Futurama (I think Futurama, especially) are still not bad at political commentary because they take a situation or issue (like global warming, for insta
Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? (Score:2)
Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? (Score:2)
Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? (Score:2)
If you call it judgemental to recognize a mean-spirited liar and a hypocrite, then I guess I am judgemental. If you call it prejudiced because I dispise mean-spirited liars and a hypocrites, - guilty again. If you think it is exclusionary to include everyone but liars and hypocrites, well you've got me pegged. So I guess you're right, but I couldn't be any other way.
Re:What's so great about the Simpsons? (Score:2)