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MONDAY 7 OCTOBER 2013 WWW.THEDAY.CO.UK

Maths secrets of Simpsons revealed in new book The most successful TV show of all time is written by a team of brilliant ‘mathletes’, says writer Simon Singh, and full of obscure mathematical jokes. Can really be all that funny?

MATHEMATICS Nerd hero: The smartest girl in Springfield was created by a team of maths wizards. he world’s most popular cartoon a perfect , a narcissistic number insist that their love of maths contrib- family has a secret: their lines are and a . utes directly to the more obvious humour written by a team of expert mathema- Another of these maths jokes – a black- that has made the show such a hit. Turn- Tticians – former ‘mathletes’ who are board showing 398712 + 436512 = 447212 ing intuitions about comedy into concrete as happy solving differential equa- – sent shivers down Simon Singh’s spine. jokes is like wrestling mathematical tions as crafting jokes. ‘I was so shocked,’ he writes, ‘I almost hunches into proofs and formulas. Comedy Now, science writer Simon Singh has snapped my slide rule.’ The numbers are and maths, says Cohen, are both explora- revealed The Simpsons’ secret math- a fake exception to a famous mathemati- tions into the unknown. ematical formula in a new book*. He cal rule known as Fermat’s Last Theorem. combed through hundreds of episodes One episode from 1990 features a Mathletes and trawled obscure internet forums to teacher making a maths joke to a class of Can maths really be funny? There are many discover that behind the show’s comic brilliant students in which Bart Simpson who will think comparing jokes to equa- exterior lies a hidden core of advanced has been accidentally included. A maths tions rather far fetched. Maths is about mathematics. problem about a curve causes the whole numbers, which are precise, mechani- Much of this maths is in the form of class to burst into laughter (the solution cal, impersonal and abstract. Humour, as so-called ‘freeze-frame gags’ – visual is rdrr – har de har har). the word itself suggests, is about messy jokes that often flash by so fast that Bart is mystified, and most Simpsons chaotic humanity. you have to press pause in order to see viewers will have sympathised. Of the On the other hand, perhaps the real them. Baby Maggie arranges coloured hundreds of millions of people around the secret of humour is that we laugh when blocks to spell out e = mcC. The Spring- world who watch the cartoon, only a tiny we discover something true about the field cinema is called the Googolplex fraction will spot these obscure mathe- world or about ourselves. If humour is – a geeky name for an extremely large matical references for what they are. about truth, then jokes and maths are a sum. A jumbotron at a baseball game But the writers of The Simpsons, people perfect fit. flashes the numbers 8108, 8208 and like mathematical prodigy Al Jean or *The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets 8191. To most people, these are meaning- David S. Cohen (who changed his initial by Simon Singh is published by Bloomsbury, less digits. To a mathematician, they are to ‘X’ to show his love of algebra), October 2013.

The problem is that thinking you are bad at and others don’t makes those who struggle at Q & A maths is a self-fulfilling prophecy. first quickly give up trying. The truth is that, Q I’m no good at maths so I’d never get Q What do you mean? as with most other things, effort is much more these jokes. A Many psychological studies have shown important than ‘talent’. A Maths has a terrible reputation among that students subconsciously conform school subjects. Some people seem to be to other people’s expectations of them. SOME PEOPLE SAY… able to just get it. Other people don’t. Many If students expect to fail they perform ‘Maths is for nerds.’ students are left thinking they are no good significantly worse in tests. Moreover, the at maths, or have no head for numbers. idea that some people have maths talent WHAT DO YOU THINK? MONDAY 7 OCTOBER 2013 WWW.THEDAY.CO.UK

Maths secrets of Simpsons revealed in new book

number with a zeros. If numbers exist. you wrote a googolplex out in WORD WATCH full you would need a piece of Mersenne prime – A special kind paper bigger than the observable of that is equal to The Simpsons – The Simpsons, . two to the power of another num- created by cartoonist Matt Groen- ber minus one. The properties of ing, first appeared on television – A perfect num- such numbers are still a mystery as short sketches in 1987. The ber is a number equal to the sum to mathematicians. half-hour show began in 1989 and of its proper positive . has been running to huge popular They are like perfect humans, as Fermat’s Last Theorem – In 1637, and critical acclaim ever since. It the philosopher Déscartes once Pierre de Fermat wrote in the follows the adventures of a middle said: ‘very rare’. margin to one of his books that class family in the middle-Ameri- he could prove there was no set can town of Springfield. Narcissistic number – A number of numbers that would satisfy the which is the product of each digit equation xn + yn = zn. He died Googolplex – A ‘googol’ is 10100. to the power of the total number without writing out the proof, and Written out it would have 100 of digits. For instance, 153 = 13 the theorem then went unproved zeros. A googolplex is 10googol – a + 53 + 33. Only three other such for the next 350 years.

YOU DECIDE ACTIVITIES 1. If you could press a button and 1. What makes things funny? 2. Write a script for a comedy magically become a maths genius, In groups, brainstorm a list of sketch involving maths or math- would you do it? ingredients for the perfect joke, ematicians. then compare notes with the rest 2. Is humour about truth or about of the class. humanity, or something else?

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