This week on the Physics Central Podcast, I’m talking with science writer Simon Singh, about his latest book, The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets. In it, Singh reveals that one of America’s favorite cartoon families has been infiltrated by mathematics for the last 25 years. From the very start of the show in the late 80’s, multiple members of The Simpsons writing staff have held advanced degrees in math, science and engineering. Listen to the podcast to hear how one of the writers for The Simpsons wrote a computer program to find near-miss solutions to Fermat’s Last Theorem, and planted it in the background of an episode. Or how the writing staff contacted a pi expert at NASA, in order to learn the 40,000th digit of everyone’s favorite constant (the answer also appeared in an episode of the show). And while many people are surprised to learn about the presence of mathematics and The Simpsons, there are fans who have been aware of the connection for years.
Listen to the podcast to hear more!