Numb3rs

Numb3rs (2005)

4 factual errors in season 1 - chronological order

(3 votes)

Counterfeit Reality - S1-E7

Factual error: The Secret Service agent says the bills are counterfeit because you can see the watermark under a uv light, which is completely wrong. The uv reactive strip is not a watermark, it's a plastic strip embedded between the two layers of the bill and fluoresces under uv as a security measure. In older bills, it glows blue as in the film. In newer ones, it glows yellow to orange and is on the right half of the bill. A fake bill would be the one that does not glow. (00:07:20)

zephalis

Dirty Bomb - S1-E10

Factual error: Season 1, Episode 10, "Dirty Bomb": The opening figures refer to "500g of Nuclear Material." These are the wrong units to determine the hazard level in a radiological sample. The "Curie content" describes, roughly, how much radiation will be given off, and is not tied directly to the sample's mass. 500g of Cesium-137 (the isotope being discussed in the episode) could well be less radioactive than 1g of a different isotope.

Rooster of Doom

Noisy Edge - S1-E12

Factual error: In the beginning of the episode, Charlie is stating that "there is always a solution" and "if there's any limitation it's got to be in the mathematician, not the math". Unfortunately, according to Kurt Godel's incompleteness theorems, this is not true. Simply put, there are mathematical problems that cannot be proven/solved.

Waste Not - S3-E9

Continuity mistake: Around the middle of the episode, Charlie Eppes and Mildred French are discussing in front of a board. She completes an equation and he adds a minus. In the next close shots, the minus disappears and reappears with angle changes. After three or four changes, a circle appears around the minus.

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Thirteen - S4-E4

Trivia: The episode revolves around a man killing people with the same first names as the thirteen apostles (Mary Magdalene being the 13th), and killing them in a similar fashion in which the apostles died. At one point, Colby and David find a box with a mannequin's head in it. This is a reference to the film Se7en, in which seven people are killed for committing one of the seven deadly sins. The film ends with the main characters finding an actual head in a box.

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Pilot - S1-E1

Question: After explaining why it is illogical to play the lottery, Charlie asks the FBI agent if he ever plays craps. I didn't get the joke. Any help?

Answer: Craps is a casino game where players bet on the outcome of a dice roll. It deals heavily with probabilities and is a favorite of math experts like Charlie. Whatever the odds, though, your chances of winning are much greater than winning the lottery.

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