Math Goes to Hollywood

If you've ever watched the TV show NUMB3RS then you'll know that the show revolves around a gifted mathematician who helps the FBI solve crimes using math. But how accurate is the math? Well, check this out:

On NUMB3RS, [CalTech math professor] Gary Lorden's job is to help the scripts credibly utilize bona fide mathematical techniques such as cryptography, combinatorics, number theory, and epidemiology statistics in solving crimes. Besides reviewing scripts for mathematical authenticity, he has also been asked to come up with math or physics concepts and equations to provide the mathematical background to what some of the characters are doing, saying, or thinking. The show actually uses a whole team of mathematicians from the California Institute of Technology, including Lorden, Nathan Dunfield, Dinakar Ramakrishnan, and Richard Wilson. Even students can get a share of the glory. David Grynkiewicz served as a hand double, writing the problems on a blackboard and on notepaper.

Cool. Now I like the show even more knowing it's rooted in reality. (Well, at least the math parts. It is a TV show after all).

The blurb above comes from an entertaining article called "The Academic Path to Hollywood" in the most recent Chronicle of Higher Education.