The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets

Simon Singh

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Year: 2013
• Topic: Mathematics
• eBook ISBN:
  9781620402795
• Subtopic: Popular Culture in Art
• Index: Mathematics

The brainy book by the bestselling author of Fermat's Enigma—a must for anyone interested in numbers and mathematics, as well as for the millions of Simpsons fans worldwide.
"Simon Singh's excellent book blows the lid off a decades-long conspiracy to secretly educate cartoon viewers." ?David X. Cohen, writer for The Simpsons and Futurama
You may have watched hundreds of episodes of The Simpsons (and its sister show Futurama) without ever realizing that cleverly embedded in many plots are subtle references to mathematics, ranging from well-known equations to cutting-edge theorems and conjectures. That they exist, Simon Singh reveals, underscores the brilliance of the shows' writers, many of whom have advanced degrees in mathematics in addition to their unparalleled sense of humor.
While recounting memorable episodes such as "Bart the Genius" and "Homer3," Singh weaves in mathematical stories that explore everything from p to Mersenne primes, Euler's equation to the unsolved riddle of P v. NP; from perfect numbers to narcissistic numbers, infinity to even bigger infinities, and much more. Along the way, Singh meets members of The Simpsons' brilliant writing team—among them David X. Cohen, Al Jean, Jeff Westbrook, and Mike Reiss—whose love of arcane mathematics becomes clear as they reveal the stories behind the episodes.
With wit and clarity, displaying a true fan's zeal, and replete with images from the shows, photographs of the writers, and diagrams and proofs, The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets offers an entirely new insight into the most successful show in television history.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Chapter 0 The Truth About The Simpsons
• Chapter 1 Bart the Genius
• Chapter 2 Are you π-Curious?
• Chapter 3 Homer’s Last Theorem
• Chapter 4 The Puzzle of Mathematical Humor
• Examination I
• Chapter 5 Six Degrees of Separation
• Chapter 6 Lisa Simpson, Queen of Stats and Bats
• Chapter 7 Galgebra and Galgorithms
• Examination II
• Chapter 8 A Prime-Time Show
• Chapter 9 To Infinity and Beyond
• Chapter 10 The Scarecrow Theorem
• Examination III
• Chapter 11 Freeze-Frame Mathematics
• Chapter 12 Another Slice of π
• Chapter 13 Homer³
• Examination IV
• Chapter 14 The Birth of Futurama
• Chapter 15 1,729 and a Romantic Incident
• Chapter 16 A One-Sided Story
• Chapter 17 The Futurama Theorem
• Examination V
• Eπlogue
• Appendix 1 The Sabermetrics Approach in Soccer
• Appendix 2 Making Sense of Euler’s Equation
• Appendix 3 Dr. Keeler’s Recipe for the Sum of Squares
• Appendix 4 Fractals and Fractional Dimensions
• Appendix 5 Keeler’s Theorem
• Acknowledgments
• Online Resources
• Picture Credits
• Endnotes
• Note on the Author
• By the Same Author
• eCopyright