NUMB3RS

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NUMB3RS
The NUMB3RS logo </small>
Genre	Drama, Action
Running time	43 minutes (approx)
Creator(s)	Nicolas Falacci Cheryl Heuton
Starring	Rob Morrow David Krumholtz Judd Hirsch Peter MacNicol Alimi Ballard Navi Rawat Sabrina Lloyd (Season 1) Diane Farr (Season 2–present) Dylan Bruno (Season 2–present)
Opening theme	Once In A Lifetime by Talking Heads (Seasons 1)
Country of origin	Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States
Original channel	CBS
Original run	January 23, 2005–present
No. of episodes	46
Official website
IMDb profile

NUMB3RS (Numbers) is an American television show that follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz), who develops formulae to predict the actions of various criminals. It was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, produced by CBS Paramount Network Television, and airs on the CBS network in the US.

The show focuses equally on the relationships among Don Eppes, his brother Charlie Eppes, and their father, Alan Eppes, and on the brothers' efforts to fight crime, normally in Los Angeles. A typical episode begins with a crime, which is subsequently investigated by a team of FBI agents led by Don and mathematically described by Charlie, occasionally with the help of Larry Fleinhardt and/or Amita Ramanujan. The insights provided by Charlie's mathematics are always in some way crucial to solving the crime. In some ways, the show is similar to CSI.

In keeping with replacement of the letter E with the number 3 in the title, each of the actors' names in the opening credits has at least one digit in place of a letter. (Such replacement is also found in the Internet language, Leetspeek.)

1 NUMB3RS and mathematics
2 Cast and characters
- 2.1 Main characters
- 2.2 Secondary characters
3 Episodes
4 U.S. television ratings
5 Production notes
6 International first broadcast dates
7 DVD releases
8 References
9 External links
- 9.1 Notable news articles
- 9.2 Notable fan websites

[edit] NUMB3RS and mathematics

Several mathematicians work as consultants for each episode.<ref name="hollywoodmath">Hollywood Math and Science Film Consulting. Retrieved on 2006-04-26.</ref> Actual mathematics is presented in the show; the equations on the chalkboards are real, and they are indeed applicable to the situations presented in each show. This phenomenon has been recognized by working mathematicians; see, for example, NUMB3RS gets the math right, published by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA)<ref name="MAA">Keith Devlin. NUMB3RS gets the math right. Retrieved on 2006-05-07.</ref> and the January 21 issue of Math Games<ref name="mathgames">Math Puzzle.com. Retrieved on 2006-04-27.</ref> in which Ed Pegg Jr. discusses related issues. e.g. Bayesian search theory, graph theory, combinatorics.

While the mathematics are accurate, a great number of other ideas presented in the show are not as grounded in fact; for instance, in the episode "Dirty Bomb," the explosion caused by the "C4" in the plaza would require nearly twice as much C4 as the trash can could hold.

To assist the FBI in the show, Professor Charlie Eppes has invoked the following mathematical disciplines (among others): cryptanalysis, probability theory, game theory, partial differential equations, decision theory, number theory, information theory, graph theory, soap bubble theory, negotiation theory, Fourier analysis, principal components analysis, multivariate time series analysis, and astrophysics.

American math teachers have used episodes of the show as a teaching tool, as it connects the forensics boom in America (triggered by such shows as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) to classroom topics. Texas Instruments and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics have created the We All Use Math Every Day education outreach program, in which teachers are provided with class activities based on the concepts to be featured in the next episode. <ref name="math_initiative">We all use math everyday Math Education Program. Retrieved on 2006-06-24.</ref>

[edit] Cast and characters

Main article: Characters of NUMB3RS

[edit] Main characters

Don Eppes, the lead FBI agent and brother to Charlie Eppes, played by Rob Morrow
Professor Charlie Eppes, a 'Cal-Sci' (based on Caltech) professor and mathematical genius helping the FBI solve crimes, played by David Krumholtz

[edit] Secondary characters

Alan Eppes, father of Charlie and Don. Played by Judd Hirsch
Professor Larry Fleinhardt, played by Peter MacNicol
Dr. Amita Ramanujan, played by Navi Rawat
FBI Agent Megan Reeves, played by Diane Farr (Season 2+)
FBI Agent David Sinclair, played by Alimi Ballard
FBI Agent Colby Granger, played by Dylan Bruno (Season 2+)
FBI Agent Terry Lake, played by Sabrina Lloyd (Season 1)

[edit] Episodes

Charlie's work appears in the opening credits.

Main article: List of NUMB3RS episodes

[edit] Season 1

Season 1 (January 23 2005 – May 13 2005) sees the start of the working relationship between Los Angeles' FBI department and Charlie Eppes. The main FBI agents are Charlie's brother, Don Eppes, and his partner Terry Lake, as well as David Sinclair. Don and Charlie's father, Alan Eppes, provides emotional support for the pair, while Professor Larry Fleinhardt and doctorate student Amita Ramanujan provide mathematical support and insights to Charlie.

[edit] Season 2

Season 2 (September 23 2005 – May 19 2006) sees the continuation of the relationship between the FBI and Charlie. Don's partner, Terry Lake, is reassigned to Washington, and Megan Reeves replaces her role as a psychological profiler for the team. Colby Granger is also introduced, and is partnered with David Sinclair.

[edit] Season 3

NUMB3RS has been renewed for a third season<ref name="season3>Mahan, Colin. "Voila! CBS renews 14 shows at once", TV.com. Retrieved on 2005-06-07.</ref>, which began airing in North America on September 22 2006. Perhaps the largest changes from previous seasons include the removal of the opening credit sequence (credits are now done during the first segment of the show) and a renewed focus on Charlie's personality.

[edit] U.S. television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Numb3rs on CBS.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Season	Timeslot	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
1st<ref>Viewer numbers of the official 2004-2005 U.S. television season</ref>	Friday 10:00PM	January 23, 2005	May 13, 2005	2004-2005	#36	10.77
2nd<ref>Viewer numbers of the official 2005-2006 U.S. television season</ref>	Friday 10:00PM	September 23, 2005	May 19, 2006	2005-2006	#32	11.62
3rd	Friday 10:00PM	September 22, 2006	TBA	2006-2007	TBA	TBA

For most of its series run, Numb3rs is the most-watched television program on Friday nights.

[edit] Production notes

The original concept for the show had the events take place at MIT.<ref name="mit">"Numb3rs (2005). Retrieved on 2006-05-07.</ref>
Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, the show's creators, won the Carl Sagan Award for the Public Understanding of Science in 2006.<ref name="carlsaganaward">Official Numb3rs website. Retrieved on 2006-05-13.</ref>
The Craftsman home used in the series is owned by David Raposa and Edward Trosper.<ref name="craftsmanhome">Arts and Crafts by the 'Numb3rs' by Christy Hobart, Special to The Times Los Angeles Times, February 17, 2005</ref> The front yard contains a koi pond.
Famous scientists and mathematicians mentioned in the series include Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Archimedes, John von Neumann, Paul Erdős, Pierre-Simon Laplace, Michael Faraday, Richard Feynman, Werner Heisenberg, Bernhard Riemann and Edward Witten.
The famous chess game Morphy v. Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard is featured at least twice in the series, once in the ending scene of "Man Hunt" and again in the "chess interlude" of the episode "Assassin".
The etude played by Don Eppes at the end of episode 2x15 "The Running Man" was composed by Charlie Clouser and was performed by Rob Morrow.
The tune coming from the TV at the end of episode 3x07 "Blackout" is the theme from Taxi, another show that Judd Hirsch was in.

[edit] International first broadcast dates

Australia: August 15, 2005 on Network Ten.
Brazil: August 7, 2005 on Telecine Premium.
Canada: January 23, 2006 on Global TV.
Canada: January 28, 2006 on CH.
Denmark: September 20, 2006 on Kanal 5.
Finland: November 24, 2006 on MTV3.
France: April 14, 2006 on M6.
Germany: September 05, 2005 on Pro 7.
Hungary: May 22, 2006 on TV2.
Israel: October 27, 2005 on yesWeekend ("מספרים" - Misparim).
Malaysia: December 5, 2005 (estimated start date) on RTM1.
The Netherlands: August 30, 2005 on SBS6.
New Zealand: July 20, 2005 on TV3.
Philippines: on AXN
Poland: June 28, 2006 on TV4.
Portugal: October 19, 2006 on TVI.
Quebec: January 6, 2006 on Z Tele.
Russia: August 18, 2006 on TV3
Spain: March 7, 2006 on Antena 3.
Sweden: April 29, 2006 on TV4.
Turkey: 2005 on Dizimax.
United Kingdom: October 5, 2005 on ITV3.
Saudi Arabia and Arab World: October 30, 2006 on MBC 4

[edit] DVD releases

DVD cover	Season	Episodes	Originally aired	Discs	DVD release date
DVD cover	Season	Episodes	Originally aired	Discs	Region 1	Region 2/4
Image:NUMB3RS season1 dvd cover.jpg	1	13	2005	4	US/CAN: May 30, 2006	AUS: October 05, 2006
Image:NUMB3RS season1 dvd cover.jpg	Running Time: 544 minutes DVD Special Features:<ref>Numb3rs (Numbers) - Featurettes, a gag reel and commentaries Tvshowsondvd.com. March 17, 2006. Retrieved July 1, 2006.</ref><ref>Numb3rs - The Complete First Season (2005) Amazon.com. Retrieved July 1, 2006.</ref> Audio commentaries on selected episodes, with co-creators/co-executive producers Cheryl Heuton, Nicholas Falacci and David Zucker; actors David Krumholtz, Lou Diamond Phillips, Judd Hirsch and Rob Morrow; supervising producer/writer Andrew Dettmann and directors Alexander Zakrzewski and Paris Barclay. Crunching NUMB3RS: Season 1 Point of Origin: Inside the Unaired Pilot Audition Reels, with optional commentary by casting director Mark Saks Do the math: The Caltech analysis CharlieVision: FX Sequences 1.0 Blooper Reel
Image:NumbersS2.jpg	2	24	2005 – 2006	6	US/CAN: October 10, 2006	TBA
Image:NumbersS2.jpg	This box set contains the second season shown in Anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio along with audio commentaries featuring the cast and crew, and as yet unnamed featurettes.<ref>Numb3rs (Numbers) - S2 + 10.10 = Season 2 on Oct 10 Tvshowsondvd.com. June 20, 2006. Retrieved July 1, 2006.</ref>