NUMB3RS - Brutus

Another great full-length episode of NUMB3RS:

During the murder investigation of a state senator, Don and his team discover a plot to exact revenge on the individuals involved in a government sponsored behavior modification project.

Watch another episode, read why I like the show, and see my other posts on NUMB3RS.

Waste Not

Below is a full episode of one of my favorite shows -- NUMB3RS. CBS had the option to embed this, so I'm giving it a try. I'm curious to see if the ability to watch this episode expires or not and how long the ability to view it will last.

I've been wondering if/when television shows would start allowing people to embed their programs into blogs. If this takes off, other shows are sure to follow suit. From a business stand point, it makes perfect sense -- the episodes include commercials and are a nearly costless way for them to expand their audience. It's great for fans of the shows too. It's win-win and a great way to share shows you enjoy.

By the way, I love this show! Watch it and see if you do too.

Don and his team investigate a trail of illegal waste disposal after a sinkhole, which collapses in a school playground, kills an elderly woman and injures several children

Unwarping Smudged Fingerprints in Record Time

De-smudgifying fingerprints:

Gurus at the University of Warwick have developed a system that "identifies partial, distorted, scratched, smudged, or otherwise warped fingerprints in just a few seconds." The process is garnering attention thanks to its ability to spit out results in the blink of an eye after it "unwarps any fingerprint that has been distorted and creates a clear, digital representation that can then be mapped onto an image space of all other prints held on a database."

Reportedly, researchers have already established the Warwick Warp spinoff company to bring the technology to market, and they're looking in the commercial access control, financial transaction authorization and possibly even ID card / border control segments for opportunities.

Here's more:

Though it's not the company's focus, the Warp technology could have applications in forensics. After all, the system is designed to work with the kinds of non-ideal prints that unintentional situations tend to generate. The ability of the software to work with partial or smudged prints could increase the number of latent prints that investigators can use among those they find in the field.

Here's Charlie on NUMB3RS explaining how it works:

The Monty Hall Problem

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

Did you say no? If so, your answer is wrong. You actually double your odds of winning if you switch doors.

Don't believe me? Try it out yourself. I did and verified after 45 tries that I would have doubled my chances of winning if I switched every time.

Watch this video explanation from NUMB3RS:

Still confused? Here's a visual proof of the problem:

I don't know about you, but I find this is absolutely fascinating! Like they said on the NUMB3RS video, this is completely counter-intuitive -- but it works.

Whoever said math isn't cool?

(HT Grey Matters)

NUMB3RS

A few days ago, I had a post about tit-for-tat strategy in game theory. I included a video clip from the TV show NUMB3RS. It is an intriguing TV show about a math genius college professor who helps his FBI agent brother solve complex cases using math. As a former math teacher (I taught math part-time for a couple years at a community college in Orlando), I love what I've seen of the show.

It looks like I'm not the only fan:

As some of you may have guessed from the video in my Monty Hall Dilemma post, I'm a fan of the TV show Numb3rs. If you're not familiar with the show, CBS has a description of the basics of the show, which is already in its 3rd season.

To get a feel for the show, CBS has posted several clips of Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz) explaining various concepts over on YouTube:

Tracking A Sex Offender Killer
A Big Problem
Math and Shoeless Joe
Betting On The Horses
A Discussion of Randomness

There are many clips posted by fans. My favorites include the previously-mentioned Monty Hall Dilemma clip, as well as Game Theory. Shuzak's Numb3rs clip collection is also very impressive.

The math employed in the show is legitimate, with a team of technical advisors from Caltech providing the research for the show.

Naturally, several site have sprung up to help people better understand the math needed in the show. CBS itself took the first step, and arranged a partnership with Texas Instruments to develop the We All Use Math Everyday website, which includes activities for students that are related to each episode. The name of the site, of course, comes from a quote from the show opening.

Naturally, fans have sites delving into the math of the show, as well. At redhawke, their Numb3rs section is arranged by both episodes and mathematical concepts. Over at Northeastern University, their mathematics department has an entire blog devoted solely to Numb3rs. Those who want to learn about the various concepts can find themselves getting lost in these sites for hours.

I haven't seen many episodes yet, but hope to rent some of the previous seasons soon.

Game Theory: Tit for Tat

Here's a great explanation from the TV show NUMB3RS of the tit-for-tat strategy in an iterated prisoner's dilemma game.

Tit for tat is a highly effective strategy in game theory for the iterated prisoner's dilemma. It was first introduced by Anatol Rapoport in Robert Axelrod's two tournaments, held around 1980. Based on the English saying meaning "equivalent retaliation" ("tit for tat"), an agent using this strategy will initially cooperate, then respond in kind to an opponent's previous action. If the opponent previously was cooperative, the agent is cooperative. If not, the agent is not. This is similar to reciprocal altruism in biology.

Here is the basic set-up for the prisoner's dilemma game. Notice that regardless of what the other prisoner does, each prisoner is better off betraying the other rather than staying silent, even though their optimal cooperative strategy would be for both to stay silent. (Hence the dilemma.)

	Prisoner B Stays Silent	Prisoner B Betrays
Prisoner A Stays Silent	Each serves six months	Prisoner A serves ten years Prisoner B goes free
Prisoner A Betrays	Prisoner A goes free Prisoner B serves ten years	Each serves five years

The prisoner's dilemma has many applications in the analysis of economics, law, biology, politics, etc. It's ubiquity is what makes it such an interesting thing to study.

From what little I've seen of it, NUMB3RS is an excellent show. As a former math teacher, it is great seeing a show like this popularizing many of the cooler aspects and applications of various branches of mathematics.