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This is a blog where a professor from Northeastern University's Math department posts mathematical comments on the television show "Numb3rs". To comment, write to bridger@neu.edu.
Unique visitors since 6/14/2005:
December 31, 2005
In most of our daily life we use a "positional, base ten" system for writing numbers. This means we form numbers by writing the digits 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 in some order; for example: 23059. The digit furthest to the right stands for "units" (multiples of 1, or 100) -- in this case there are 9 of them. The digit just to left, the 5, stands for that many 10s (10 = 101): thus, we have five 10s... continued »
December 30, 2005
Some time ago I stated a description of what an "emergence theory" might be, namely the study of how a particular complex structure might evolve from much simpler ones. As an example, I mentioned the "Mandelbrot Set." So now, while there is a breather between new Numb3rs shows, is perhaps a good time to look more closely at the Mandelbrot set to see how its complexity flows from a simple algorithm.
First of all, the set is named after the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot (b... continued »
December 24, 2005
I wrote some blogs on statistical decision theory and the "Buffon Needle Problem" last September when this Friday's show (a repeat) first aired. See the blogs from then in the master list.
December 24, 2005
Larry, a string-theory physicist, often talks about "quantum entanglement." This is, strictly speaking, in the realm of experimental physics, but it is closely related to Bell's Theorem which contains some interesting mathematics and, together with some experimental results, has some profound philosophical/logical implications.
Let me begin with some rather vague physics background (Warning: I am not a physicist -- I don't even play one on TV)... continued »
December 18, 2005
Pascal's Principle is a physics fact, but it is interesting, involves some math, and is featured in Friday's show, so we'll take a look at it.
Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662) was a mathematician, physicist and philosopher. His work in fluids led him to the law which bears his name. It says that if you have a an incompressible fluid such as water or oil, then a change in pressure on the fluid is transmitted equally in all directions... continued »
December 17, 2005
In last night's episode, the central mathematical construction is what Charlie and Larry call a "fireprint". I'd like to discuss how such a thing can be created by making an analogy with some modern baseball statistics.
First of all, Charlie researches the kinds of things that characterize fires. These include things like burn rate, central temperature, spread rate, absorption rate etc. etc... continued »
December 15, 2005
Suppose, in a desert somewhere, a bunch of lemonade stands open up. Everyone in the desert is thirsty, of course, so each person wants to go to the nearest lemonade stand... continued »
December 11, 2005
There were two interesting bits of math in last night's show: Carbon 14 dating and Voronoi diagrams. I'll discuss the former in this blog and save the latter for later.
Charlie's explanation is not bad, but here are some more details. Every second, high in the atmosphere, high energy particles called cosmic rays, which come from the far reaches of the universe, strike atoms and molecules of gas... continued »
December 8, 2005
I hope you had a chance to look at Conway's Game of Life --- I'll call it GoL --- which I mentioned in the last blog. One of the key facts about GoL is that its rules are very simple, yet the patterns that are produced can appear to be very complex... continued »
December 5, 2005
Charlie's new professional field of interest is "Cognitive Emergence Theory." This is a subfield of the general field of emergence theory. What is emergence theory?
Scientists, philosophers and even some computer-programers have noticed that complicated phenomena often arise out of seemingly simple systems.
A classical example in biology is that of the slime mold... continued »
December 2, 2005
Well, it looks like there's some nonsense instead of Numb3rs tonight. I guess we'll relax, read a book (probably not math) and maybe do some crosswords (Times Friday is tough)...Get to bed early (maybe).
Anyway, I'm gearing up to write something on "Emergence Theory"... continued »
December 1, 2005
I think it is now safe to read the last part of the Steiner Construction blog from 11/27 -- the diagram has been fixed and the text a bit improved.
December 1, 2005
The Boston Globe ran a nice article today on this blog and your blogmeister. If you came via that story, welcome! Also, hello again to old friends.
I've gotten many questions and suggestions about math and the show, and I welcome new ones. I try to answer all mail sent to: bridger@neu.edu.
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