Numb3rs 2x01

Judgment Call

Season 2, Episode 1

* Charlie: Sometimes math finds something that we can't explain.
   Don: And why Dolan is showing up as part of this case?
   Charlie: I can't fully explain. It's, uh... It's pi.
   David: Pi?
   Charlie: The ratio of circumference to the diameter of a circle.
   David: Yeah, I know what pi is.
   Charlie: Okay, but did you know that if you randomly drop needles onto a sheet of lined paper, the probability that a needle will cross a line relates directly to pi? It's call Buffon's needle.
   Pi appears in quantum mechanics, relativity theory, and number theory. But do you know why pi would show up in all of these seemingly unrelated places?
   David: Actually, I don't have a clue.
   Charlie: Neither do I. No one does yet, but, although we can't fully explain pi, it keeps working. It keeps turning up.

---

* Charlie: Your suspects aren't limited only to people who were convicted by the judge, right?
   Megan: That's right; there's also family members, friends, co-conspirators... The possibilities are exponential.
   Charlie: "Exponential" would mean that the growth rate is proportionate to its size, so, yeah, the mathematically correct term would be... "more."

* Don: Nadine. You know, I was just thinking about you.
   Nadine: What was I wearing?
   Don: Well, actually, I didn't get that far, but...

* Dr. Larry: You know that term "dark matter"? That has always perplexed me. It fallaciously implies that the 95% of our universe that can't be observed is some amorphous, eventless, just, uh, emptiness.
   Alan: I'm sorry?
   Dr. Larry: I suppose it's all too human. Instead of just admitting to the present limits of our knowledge we simply declare things to be unknowable.

* Megan: This isn't just a handful of A's and B's, Charlie. These are really raw human motivations, like rage and revenge.
   Charlie: Origami. In origami, there are six basic folds: mountain, valley, diagonal, fold and unfold, reverse, and turnover. Each fold is a simple, finite, imminently-quantifiable action. But the infinite number of combinations creates the possibility for an infinite number of forms.
   Decision theory contends that we should use the same basic criteria with every action we take. Risk, reward, consequence, and certainty.
   Megan: Human behavior is not that rational.
   Charlie: Well, that's why my system is not meant to be a replacement for your skills. It's simply a tool... to help you use them much more efficiently.

* Megan: You realize all your food is white?
   Dr. Larry: Mm, yes, I prefer white food.
   Megan: Why is that?
   Dr. Larry: Supersymmetry. It's a theory that describes the nature of connectivity in complex multidimensional space.
   Megan: Symmetry is also a term we use in behavioral science to explain obsessive behavior.
   Dr. Larry: Oh, is it now?
   Megan: I have a two-year-old nephew who won't eat anything but pasta with butter. We're a little worried he might be a budding scientist.
   Alan: Larry has a tendency to live out his theories.

* Don: Hey, Larry, what brings you here?
   Larry: Oh, I had some work to go over with Charlie, but he couldn't get away from here, so, the mountain comes, yet again, to Mohammed. ... Oh. Hey, Don, are you... are you familiar with, um, quantum entanglement?
   Don: Uh, I don't think so. I'm not sure.
   Larry: Okay, it's a theory that holds that photons come in pairs, that are separated by space and time, but always in instantaneous, inexplicable communication. Einstein calls it, uh, "spooky action at a distance." But, you know, I find it... I find the notion fairly romantic.
   Don: How so?
   Larry: Well, uh, I mean, we affect each other. Even when we don't mean to, even when we don't want to, we're connected, you see, even when we try to be unaffected.
   Don: Why do I get the feeling you're talking about my love life?
   Larry: Don, the universe is accelerating at such a rate that, some day, eventually, it will all fly apart, and all matter will just drift alone and become disconnected. And how sad that would be if human beings wereto behave in a similar fashion. And after considerable inner debate, I find that the risks of human contact are more than compensated for by the rewards.
   Don: I'll keep that in mind.


-- Словарик
perplexed — ошеломлённый, недоумевающий; сбитый с толку, растерянный; запутанный, сложный
fallacious — неправильный; ошибочный, ложный; обманчивый, иллюзорный
imminently-quantifiable — надвигающийся, нависший, неминуемый, неизбежный + поддающийся количественному определению
budding — подающий надежды, многообещающий
circumference — окружность; длина окружности
instantaneous — мгновенный, моментальный; немедленный, незамедлительный
inexplicable — не объяснимый
spooky — похожий на привидение, призрак; страшный; боязливый

На Imdb.