You don't have to notice, but if you do, it's like a hidden kiss. There have always been popular television shows that sneak bits of arcane learning into their storylines. Star Trek did this. Dr. Who (in Britain) did this. So, back in the day, did Rocky and Bullwinkle and before them, a cartoon show called Crusader Rabbit. You'd be watching the program, and — hiding in a tossed-off bit of dialogue, a detail on the set, or some signage in the background — there would be a sly reference to a math problem or to a philosopher.
Right now, the best place to look for nerdy sweets is, of course, The Simpsons. They have a writing staff chockablock with mathematicians, so, inevitably funny little math bits creep in. The jokes they tell aren't exactly fall-off-the-barstool variety. For example, in one episode, "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace," Homer seems to solve one of the toughest mathematical puzzles ever: Fermat's Last Theorem. Except (and this is the "gag me with a spoon" part), while he seems to triumph, Homer's solution is what mathematicians call "a near miss" — a fancy way of saying "D'oh!" It doesn't quite work.As was noted a couple months ago in "March 14: It's Albert Einstein's Birthday! (it's also Pi day)" a good endorphin and/or dopamine releaser for the geek who has run out of Sriracha sauce is "Guide to Mathematics on the Simpsons".
In this video, British science writer Simon Singh weighs in, and runs Homer's numbers again, with a pen on some brown wrapping paper. It turns out that, while Homer's math looks "like a perfectly valid solution," he's off by, oh, quite a lot....MORE
See also: "Introduction to Behavioral Economics and Behavioral Finance (Now With More Simpsons)"
