![]() ![]() Thinking about your own teachers, particularly Mathematics teachers, who inspired you and why? ( For more details on this – see this Numberphile video) ![]() The conflict is resolved when you realise that Homer has merely found a near-miss solution, which means it is accurate to a dozen or so significant figures close enuogh to fool your calculator, but close enough to defy Fermat. Moreover, if you check the equations they seem to hold true, so who is right, Pierre de Fermat or Homer Simpson. In both episodes, we see an equation which seems to defy Fermat’s last theorem, because we have two twelfth powers that seem to add to a third twelfth power. My first book was all about Fermat’s notorious problem, so it is close to my heart and seeing it make cameo appearances in the world’s favorite TV show was very exciting. ![]() It has to be Fermat’s last theorem, which appears in two episodes, namely “Treehouse of Horror VI” and “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace”. I love the scene with Lisa surrounded by all her books including the one with Euler’s identity! I suppose if I had to pick a favourite mathematics reference in The Simpsons, then it would be that one – do you have a favourite? In Simon Singh’s ‘The Simpson’s and Their Mathematical Secrets”, now published in paperback Simon explains how writers have included mathematical jokes throughout the cartoon’s twenty-five year history. Here Simon Singh answers some questions I put to him. ![]()
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