Culture

The Simpsons Has Been Tricking You Into Learning Math for Decades

For years, The Simpsons has been advancing what writer David X. Cohen calls "a decades-long conspiracy to secretly educate cartoon viewers."
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“Treehouse of Horror VI: Homer3” (1995)
It’s no secret that the longest-running American sitcom is also one of the smartest. Academics have pored over The Simpsons for its insights into philosophy and psychology, but it took physicist Simon Singh, the author of previous books about cryptography, the Big Bang, and Fermat’s Enigma, to tap a vein of knowledge that runs even deeper in the animated world of Springfield: math. In the engaging (and educational) The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets, Singh delves into the academic backgrounds of some of the most poindextrous Simpsons writers -- Al Jean, J. Stewart Burns, Jeff Westbrook, and David X. Cohen among them -- who are equipped with advanced degrees in math and science. Naturally, they’ve been using their platform to advance what Cohen calls "a decades-long conspiracy to secretly educate cartoon viewers." Hoyvin-glavin! Click through the gallery above for some key Simpsons moments of witty math infusion.

Above: "Treehouse of Horror VI: Homer3" (1995)

Simon Singh calls this segment "the most intense and elegant integration of mathematics into The Simpsons since the series began" – no small praise from someone who combed through the entire run in search of math content. In the very meta storyline, Homer leaves behind 2-D Springfield when he enters a portal to the abstract and mysterious third dimension, which is rendered with then-cutting-edge computer animation. Homer’s stunned family can hear but not see him as he wanders along a z-axis, and eccentric genius Professor Frink is the only one who can explain the concept of depth: "This forms a three-dimensional object known as a cube, or a Frinkahedron in honor of its discoverer."