Editing 587: Crime Scene
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
β | {{w|Mathnet}} was a segment on the children's television show "Square One Television", where police mathematicians solved crimes and other mysteries by math. It parodies the {{w|Dragnet (1951 TV series)|''Dragnet'' TV show}} (and {{w|Dragnet (radio series)|earlier radio drama}}) about the {{w|Los Angeles Police Department}} (LAPD). This comic plays on that by implying that Mathnet was a real department of the LAPD | + | {{w|Mathnet}} was a segment on the children's television show "Square One Television", where police mathematicians solved crimes and other mysteries by math. It parodies the {{w|Dragnet (1951 TV series)|''Dragnet'' TV show}} (and {{w|Dragnet (radio series)|earlier radio drama}}) about the {{w|Los Angeles Police Department}} (LAPD). This comic plays on that by implying that Mathnet was a real department of the LAPD such that when the show was cancelled and the department was shut down its mathematicians were forced to become regular detectives. |
Here, George Frankly, one of the two lead detectives on the show (a parody of ''Dragnet'' character Frank Smith), observes a murder scene along with another officer. His fellow officer, knowing him, tries to tell him off by saying that it is just '''two''' dead bodies. As a mathematician, George is constantly looking for potential patterns in the data. However, in this instance there are no obvious mathematical patterns, yet George nonetheless tries to look for one and observes that "two" is the third {{w|Fibonacci number}}. Since several small numbers are in the Fibonacci sequence, the fact that the number of bodies is one of these numbers is not the least interesting. The other officer tries to shut him down, discouraging this unhelpful line of thought. | Here, George Frankly, one of the two lead detectives on the show (a parody of ''Dragnet'' character Frank Smith), observes a murder scene along with another officer. His fellow officer, knowing him, tries to tell him off by saying that it is just '''two''' dead bodies. As a mathematician, George is constantly looking for potential patterns in the data. However, in this instance there are no obvious mathematical patterns, yet George nonetheless tries to look for one and observes that "two" is the third {{w|Fibonacci number}}. Since several small numbers are in the Fibonacci sequence, the fact that the number of bodies is one of these numbers is not the least interesting. The other officer tries to shut him down, discouraging this unhelpful line of thought. |