Do They Have Your Numb3r?
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SI J-F 2007 pgs 11/13/06 11:34 AM Page 37 Do They Have Yo u r N u m b 3 r ? CBS’s popular Friday night drama uses—surprise!—mathematics, reason, and rationality to help the FBI solve major crime mysteries. This is network television? KENDRICK FRAZIER Direct Network Flow Problem. Probabilistic Graph Theory. Soap Bubble Theory. Isospectral Geometry. Social Network Analysis. Gaussian Plume Dispersion Model. Linear Discriminant Analysis. hat television series would you guess discussed and demonstrated these mathematical concepts W this past year? Nova? Scientific American Frontiers? A documentary on the Discovery Channel? No, these mathematical techniques were integral to the prime-time dramatic television series Numb3rs, which began its third season September 22 on CBS. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER January / February 2007 37 SI J-F 2007 pgs 11/13/06 11:34 AM Page 38 Just as the trio of CSI dramatic programs has brought the ested in a show featuring mathematics,” she says, “and we importance of forensic science to the masses in the U.S. and knew we would have to put it into a format that would appeal abroad (SI May/June 2005; CBS says CSI: Miami is now the to the execs—a crime show.” most watched television show in the world), Numb3rs is now “We were sure it was going to be a very hard sell,” she says. demonstrating to millions of viewers each Friday night that A twenty-minute “pitch” meeting was set up. Five minutes mathematics can also have surprising relevance to everyday into the pitch the answer came: “Let’s go ahead” (with a pilot). problems. And all the while providing quality entertainment. “That each step went so well remains to Nick and me com- Mathematics is not just a sideshow in the popular television pletely shocking,” she says. mystery series, which stars David Krumholtz as brilliant young From the beginning, mathematics was to be featured, not mathematician Charlie Epps, who helps his FBI agent brother downplayed. Episodes begin with a spoken tribute about the Don (Rob Morrow) tackle particularly puzzling cases. More importance of mathematics: “We all use math everywhere. To often than not, it is Charlie, seeking mathematical patterns tell time, to predict the weather, to handle money.... Math is and applying novel mathematical concepts, who plays a cen- more than formulas and equations. Math is more than num- tral role solving the cases. Judd Hirsch plays Charlie’s and bers. It is logic. It is rationality. It is using your mind to solve Don’s widowed father, a semi-retired city planner. The quirky the biggest mysteries we know.” Peter MacNicol also stars as Dr. Larry Fleinhardt, Charlie’s When was the last time you heard characters in a prime- physicist mentor and sounding board for new ideas and time television series tout mathematics and rationality? Let broader scientific thinking. Navi Rawat plays a former gradu- alone really using the mind? ate student of Charlie’s from CalSci (a close stand-in for Heuton says in an early test, twelve women who watched Caltech) and as a bright and attractive woman provides some the show were asked why. “They said, ‘We love the math.’ The continuing love interest. head of Paramount TV turned to me and said, ‘I’m flabber- Science, reason, and rational thinking play such a promi- gasted.’” nent role in the stories that the American Association for the Some previous movies and shows have included mathemat- Advancement of Science hosted an entire afternoon sympo- ics, notes Tony F. Chan, as of October 1 the assistant director sium at its 2006 annual meeting on the program’s role in for mathematics and physical sciences at the National Science changing the public’s perception of mathematics. Nobel laure- Foundation. (At the time of the AAAS symposium, which he ate David Baltimore, the president of CalTech, took part, and moderated, Chan was dean of the Division of Physical I counted two other Nobel laureates in the audience. Sciences and former chairman of the Mathematics Depart- And this past spring, Numb3r’s co-creators and executive ment at the University of California at Los Angeles.) He men- producers, Cheryl Heuton and Nicolas Falacci, a husband- tions Beautiful Mind, Good Will Hunting, and Straw Dogs. But, and-wife team, were honored with the Carl Sagan Award for he says, “Numb3rs is mathematics.” the Public Understanding of Science. The award was pre- When Numb3rs premiered January 25, 2005, it had sented by the Council of Scientific Society Presidents, honor- 25,000,000 viewers. It is still one of the two most watched ing those who have become concurrently accomplished as shows on Friday nights. Although it had somewhat higher rat- researchers, educators, and magnifiers of the public’s under- ings earlier, its 2006–2007 season opener drew 11,400,000 standing of science. viewers, good enough for a ranking of 32nd among all shows on “What I especially appreciate about Numb3rs,” CSICOP television. Fellow and Temple University math professor John Allen Gary Lorden, chairman of the department of mathematics Paulos told the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, “is that more often than at Caltech, serves as the program’s math consultant. The show not the math is somewhat integral to the show, and isn’t just recruited him in 2004. “I come up with math ideas, tech- decorative. Also there’s little irrelevant and intimidating dia- niques,” he says. He produces pages of papers. The equations logue like, ‘Ah yes, that’s a locally compact Hausdorf space we that fill the blackboard (or, more often, transparent plastic for have here.’” Paulos is author of Innumeracy and other books more dramatic display) when Charlie extemporizes are real. championing better understanding of mathematics and a “All that stuff on the blackboard is real mathematics,” he says. recipient of the 2003 AAAS Award for Public Understanding Lorden says Charlie’s character is loosely based on Richard of Science and Technology. Feynman. “He’s really smart, creative. Give him a problem and How did a show incorporating mathematics as a key com- let him go.” And he notes, sometimes Charlie’s wrong. “Just as ponent ever get sold to hard-nosed, cynical Hollywood pro- in math.” ducers? David Krumholtz, the actor who plays Charlie, is certainly First of all, points out Heuton, “CBS is not in the business one of the key reasons for the show’s appeal. With long hair, of teaching math. CBS is in the business of reaching viewers.” dark, expressive eyes, and an ability to convey simultaneously She acknowledges that the wild success of the three CSI (crime an intense passion for mathematics and a kind of endearing scene investigations) series produced for CBS by Jerry vulnerability, he’s an attractive character. He is self-deprecating Bruckheimer helped pave the way for the idea. “We were inter- about his character’s combination of awkward intelligence and good looks. “Charlie’s a ‘geek/sheik, a smart/throb,’” he laughs. Kendrick Frazier is editor of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. And although he is definitely not a mathematician (“I flunked 38 Volume 31, Issue 1 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI J-F 2007 pgs 11/13/06 11:35 AM Page 39 algebra I twice”), Krumholtz says he has quickly become a fan not only of the value of math “but of reason and rationality.” “Once you understand the Fibonacci sequence,” which played a central role in one episode, “you can’t get past that with- out becoming a different person,” he says. “I’ve become a deductive reasoner. I try to embody the character as best I can. I spend a lot of time at Caltech, wandering around, going into some of the classes. I listened to some [recordings of] Feynman lectures.” He says he passionately believes in the message Charlie speaks in one episode: “Math is the real world. It’s everywhere. Numb3rs co-creator Nick Falacci, NSF/UCLA mathematician Tony Chan, Numb3rs star David Math is nature’s language. It is nature’s way Krumholtz, co-creator Cheryl Heuton, Caltech math chairman Gary Lorden, and Bill Nye (“The of communicating with us.... Applying Science Guy”) at AAAS session devoted to Numb3rs’ contribution to improving the public’s per- ception of mathematics. Photo by Kendrick Frazier this stuff to real-life applications is very powerful.” supporters of this show. We are proud of Gary’s involvement, Every show features a turning point where Charlie explains and we have opened the campus to the show. Anything that a mathematical idea, and here the show’s visual effects depart- says math and science is important is worth supporting.” ment stepped up from the beginning. The graphics are visually Television science popularizer and CSI Fellow Bill Nye stunning, and often very creative in simply explaining a diffi- (“Bill Nye the Science Guy”) is also a supporter. He even cult concept. appeared in one episode last season, as a combustion “We visualize the math,” Krumholtz says. “When we cut researcher. “What’s impressive to me,” he said at the AAAS ses- away to these visuals, it’s not vacuum. I do it in real time. It sion, “is how passionate these people are. It’s been fun to hang gives it spontaneity.” around with these guys.” “The visuals are indeed key,” says co-creator Nick Falacci. Krumholtz says he feels fortunate to be involved in “First the episodes have to be written. Then we look for visual Numb3rs. “I am the major receptacle of gratitude for the show metaphors. Then we have a team of special effects people try because I’m its public face,” he says.