Season 22 (2010-2011)

"MoneyBart"

1. Nelson boasts to a successful alumna of the elementary school that Lisa is gifted.

Nelson: She can do the kind of math that has letters.  Watch!  What's x, Lisa?

Lisa: Well, that depends.

Nelson (apologetically): Sorry.  She did it yesterday.

2. Professor Frink and Homer’s gifted college roommates Benjamin, Doug, and Gary are discussing baseball at Moe’s Tavern.  Surprised, Lisa asks them about their interest in the sport.

Doug: The key to understanding the game is Sabermetrics.

Prof. Frink: The field was developed by statistician Bill James.

[Prof. Frink displays a Wikipedia-type webpage with a video clip of the statistician.]

Bill James (video): I made baseball as much fun as doing your taxes!

Prof. Frink: Using sabermetrics, even an eight-year old girl can run a ball club with the sagacity of a Stengel, and the singlemindedness of a Steinbrenner.  I call it a Stein-stengel.

[They hand Lisa books with titles including Moneyball, Equations, F = MA, Stats, Equations, 2z = -64, Schrodinger's Bat, Just Physics, and Math and the Numbers of Baseball, and one whose title is a version of Euler’s identity.]

Moe: Hey, speaking of stats, I'm none too pleased about your ratio of seats occupied to beers ordered.

Gary: You mean our SOBO?  Let's calculate it now!

[They calculate and mutter.]

Doug: What's the conversion factor for ginger beer?

Gary: Refreshingness over effervescence.

Benjamin: Plus or minus tang.

Moe: Oh, why did I advertise my drink specials in Scientific American?

3. Lisa, obsessed with statistical analysis of baseball, is coaching Bart's Little League team.

Lisa: Bart, this guy has walked the last two batters, and if he walks you, we win the game.  Don't swing at anything.

Bart: But I'm on a hot streak!

Lisa: Hot streaks are a statistical illusion.

Bart: I wish you were a statistical illusion.

Lisa: Well, there's a 97% chance I'm not, so do what I say.

4. Lisa cuts Bart from the team for not following her advice based on statistics.

Ralph: When is Bart coming back?

Lisa: He's not.  He thought he was better than the laws of probability.  Anyone else think he's better than the laws of probability?

[Nelson raises his hand.]

Lisa (to Nelson):  Well, you're not!

5. Milhouse scores a run, and the team wins a game.

Announcer: It's a triumph of number-crunching over the human spirit!  And it's about time.

See the Association for Women in Mathematics newsletter article on this episode.  The related film Moneyball was released in 2011.