NUMB3RS

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Numbers (NUMB3RS) is an American television show that follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz), who develops formulae to predict the actions of various criminals. It was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and airs on the CBS network in the US.

Introduction

"We all use math every day; to predict weather, to tell time, to handle money. Math is more than formulas or equations; it’s logic, it’s rationality, it’s using your mind to solve the biggest mysteries we know."

The show focuses equally on the relationship among Don Eppes, his brother Charlie Eppes, and their father, Alan Eppes, and on the brothers' efforts to fight crime, normally in Los Angeles. A typical episode begins with a crime, which is subsequently investigated by a team of FBI agents led by Don and mathematically described by Charlie, occasionally with the help of Larry Fleinhardt and/or Amita Ramanujan. The insights provided by Charlie's mathematics are always in some way crucial to solving the crime. In some ways, the show is similar to .

In keeping with replacement of the letter E with the number 3 in the title, each of the actors' names in the opening credits has at least one digit in place of a letter. (Such replacement is also found in the Internet language, Leetspeek.)

NUMB3RS and Mathematics

Several mathematicians work as consultants for each episode. Actual mathematics is presented in the show; the equations on the chalkboards are real, and they are indeed applicable to the situations presented in each show. This phenomenon has been recognized by working mathematicians; see, for example, NUMB3RS gets the math right, published by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the January 21 issue of Math Games in which Ed Pegg Jr. discusses related issues. e.g. Bayesian search theory, graph theory, combinatorics.

To assist the FBI in the show, Professor Charlie Eppes has invoked the following mathematical disciplines (among others): cryptanalysis, probability theory, game theory, decision theory, number theory, information theory, graph theory, soap bubble theory, negotiation theory, fourier analysis, principal components analysis, multivariate time series analysis and astrophysics.

Many American math teachers have used episodes of the show as a teaching tool, as it connects the forensics boom in America (triggered by such shows as ) to classroom topics. Texas Instruments and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics have created the We All Use Math Every Day education outreach program, in which teachers are provided with class activities based on the concepts to be featured in the next episode.

Cast and Characters

Main Characters

• Don Eppes, the lead FBI agent and brother to Charlie Eppes. Played by Rob Morrow
• Professor Charlie Eppes, a 'Cal-Sci' (based on Caltech) professor and mathematical genius helping the FBI solve crimes. Played by David Krumholtz

Secondary Characters

• Alan Eppes, father of Charlie and Don. Played by Judd Hirsch
• Professor Larry Fleinhardt, played by Peter MacNicol
• Dr. Amita Ramanujan, played by Navi Rawat
• FBI Agent Megan Reeves, played by Diane Farr (Season 2+)
• FBI Agent David Sinclair, played by Alimi Ballard
• FBI Agent Colby Granger, played by Dylan Bruno (Season 2+)
• FBI Agent Terry Lake, played by Sabrina Lloyd (Season 1)

Episodes

Season 1

Season 1 (23 January 2005 - 13 May 2005) sees the start of the working relationship between Los Angeles' FBI department and Charlie Eppes. The main FBI agents are Charlie's brother, Don Eppes, and his partner Terry Lake, as well as David Sinclair. Don and Charlie's father, Alan Eppes, provides emotional support for the pair, while Professor Larry Fleinhardt and doctorate student Amita Ramanujan provide mathematical support and insights to Charlie.

Season 2

Season 2 (23 September 2005 - 19 May 2006) sees the continuation of the relationship between the FBI and Charlie. Don's partner, Terry Lake, is reassigned to Washington, and Megan Reeves replaces her role as a psychological profiler for the team. Colby Granger is also introduced, and is partnered with David Sinclair.

Season 3

Numb3rs has been renewed for a third season22 September 2006.

Production notes

• The original concept for the show had the events take place at MIT.
• Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, the show's creators, won the Carl Sagan Award for the Public Understanding of Science in 2006.
• The Craftsman home used in the series is owned by David Raposa and Edward Trosper.Arts and Crafts by the 'Numb3rs' by Christy Hobart, Special to The Times Los Angeles Times, February 17, 2005
• Famous scientists mentioned in the series include Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Archimedes, Paul Erdős, Michael Faraday, Richard Feynman, Werner Heisenberg, and Edward Witten.
• The famous chess game Morphy v. Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard is featured at least twice in the series, once in the ending scene of "Man Hunt" and again in the "chess interlude" of the episode "Assassin".

International first broadcast dates

• Australia: August 15, 2005 on Network Ten.
• Brazil: August 7, 2005 on Telecine Premium.
• France: April 14, 2006 on M6.
• Germany: September 05, 2005 on Pro 7.
• Israel: October 27, 2005 on yesWeekend ("מספרים" - Misparim).
• Malaysia: December 5, 2005 (estimated start date) on RTM1.
• The Netherlands: September 17, 2005 on SBS6.
• New Zealand: July 20, 2005 on TV3.
• Quebec: January 6, 2006 on Z Tele.
• Spain: March 7, 2006 on Antena 3.
• Sweden: April 29, 2006 on TV4.
• United Kingdom: October 5, 2005 on ITV3.

DVD releases

DVD cover	Season	Episodes	Originally aired	Discs	DVD release date
					Region 1	Region 2/4
	1	13	2005	4	US/CAN: May 30, 2006	AUS: October 05, 2006
	Running Time: 544 minutes DVD Special Features:[Numb3rs (Numbers) - Featurettes, a gag reel and commentaries] Tvshowsondvd.com. March 17, 2006. Retrieved July 1, 2006.[Numb3rs - The Complete First Season (2005)] Amazon.com. Retrieved July 1, 2006. Audio commentaries on selected episodes, with co-creators/co-executive producers Cheryl Heuton, Nicholas Falacci and David Zucker; actors David Krumholtz, Lou Diamond Phillips, Judd Hirsch and Rob Morrow; supervising producer/writer Andrew Dettmann and directors Alexander Zakrzewski and Paris Barclay. Crunching NUMB3RS: Season 1 Point of Origin: Inside the Unaired Pilot Audition Reels, with optional commentary by casting director Mark Saks Do the math: The Caltech analysis CharlieVision: FX Sequences 1.0 Blooper Reel
	2	24	2005 – 2006	6	US/CAN: October 10, 2006	TBA
	This box set contains the second season shown in Anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio along with audio commentaries featuring the cast and crew, and as yet unnamed featurettes.[Numb3rs (Numbers) - S2 + 10.10 = Season 2 on Oct 10] Tvshowsondvd.com. June 20, 2006. Retrieved July 1, 2006.

References

External links

Notable news articles

• ["They're Calculatingly Cool"], Elizabeth Weise, USA Today, February 9 2005.

Notable fan websites

• [NUMB3RS Yahoo Group]
• [NUMB3RS Fansite]
• [NUMB3RS Math Blog], in which the mathematics featured in the show is explored in more detail.
• [Running the NUMB3RS]

NUMB3RS

Characters

Don Eppes > Charlie Eppes | Alan Eppes | Larry Fleinhardt

Episodes

Season 1 | Season 2

Other

We All Use Math Every Day

 

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