Dan Liebke's Astonishing Tales

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I watched an episode of Numb3rs precisely 3.2 weeks ago (rounded to one decimal place). And it got me wondering once again (this is the 83rd time I’ve wondered this now) why it is that Hollywood and its televisual brethren seem so determined to paint those proficient in maths (or ‘math’ if you prefer, Americanos) as being obsessed by it to the point where it must percolate through every facet (ie 100%) of their conversation. For example, if a mathematician falls in love in the movies or television they will convey this state with a phrase like ‘of course, from a mathematical perspective, true love is simply a perfectly triangulated cross-product of emotional vectors‘. Similarly, if they are being shot at or run through with a knife, this fact will be expressed by referring to a differential equation of some kind. It bugs me. After all, we don’t expect people who are good at, say, fishing to always reduce every single experience of their life to a hook and bait metaphor. So why such one-dimensionality for those proficient in the mathematical arts? Sure, it might be asking too much for screenwriters to portray them with two dimensions straight away. But let’s work towards it. Perhaps we can go for a dimensionality somewhere between one and two.

Yes, Hollywood, I am talking about a Sierpinski triangle.

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