Season 26 (2014-2015)

"Simpsorama"

Mathematical statements written inside the robot Bender's head include Fermat's Little Theorem and the Prime Number Theorem.

"Bart's New Friend"

At the circus, hypnotist Sven Golly is on stage with his latest volunteer from the audience, rural resident Cletus Spuckler, who is standing in front of a statement of Zorn's Lemma written on a blackboard.

Cletus: . . .  Thereby proving Zorn's Lemma.

Brandine: Gimme my damn husband back!

[The hypnotist snaps his fingers, and Cletus looks at what he wrote on the board.]

Cletus: Dang, look at all them hobo signs.  My head bone hurts.

"Mathlete's Feat"

Lisa and the rest of her Springfield Elementary Action Fractions math team arrive at the Capital City Convention Center for a math tournament.

1. Lisa and her fellow math teammates wear T-shirts that use mathematical notation to state that pi is not a rational number.

2. A sign outside the convention center displays a math joke of the day.   Using mathematical notation, the sign can be translated as, “I ate some pie and it was delicious.”

3. The competing team from the better funded Waverly Hills Elementary School is named the No Equals.

Team member (to Principal Skinner in the audience): Yo!  What did the right angle say to the wider angle?

Skinner: Well, not knowing these fellas, I couldn’t say.

Team member: "You’re obtuse."

[Their team laughs and high-fives.]

4. A video plays to introduce the Waverly Hills team.

Michael Bay: Hi, I’m movie genius Michael Bay.  I used to be all, like, “Math?  Who needs that noise, am I right?”  But I wasn’t right.  The Waverly Hills math team made me realize that quadratic equations are hotter than a million Megan Foxes.  Math on!

5. Lisa’s second grade classroom has a 2 Times Table, including two times one through two times nine.  A similar poster appears at the back of Bart’s fourth grade classroom in later episodes.

6. In the grassy schoolyard, Lisa observes Groundskeeper Willie using a cable attached to a wooden implement to measure as he plants sod.

Lisa: What’s that device you’re using?

Willie: My “rummlie scob.”  Nothing exciting.  Just a measuring stick dating back to the ancient druids.

Lisa: Oh!  Could you tell me how it works?

Willie: Each knot marks the length of a sheep’s bladder.  A play field is 75 stomachs by 52 kidneys.  That’s 163 square haggises.

Lisa: Move over, metric system!  I’m learning the gastric system!

7. Springfield Elementary invested heavily in digital devices and cloud-based instruction, which collapsed due to an electrical overload.  The school pivots to Waldorf-style hands-on learning.

Lunchlady Dora: So, I have to make 360 Sloppy Joes, but I only have one pound of hamburger meat.  How many cubic feet of Styrofoam peanuts should I add?

Uter: Assuming four peanuts per Joe, 37 cubic feet.

8. At Moe’s Tavern, Homer expounds the virtues of Waldorf education to his pals.

Homer: This school is so great now!  Kids learn by doing!

Lenny: If it’s so great, why aren’t you helping your kids do their homework.

Homer: Bart’s here, doing it right now.

[Behind the bar, Bart fills a beer mug from the tap.]

Moe: No, no, no.  Not two-thirds.  One-half!

[Moe pours half of the beer into an empty mug.]

Bart: Now, it’s one-third each!

Moe: Now, you’re learning!

9. Groundskeeper Willie is chosen to coach the school’s math team.

Willie (to children): So, if Willie gets paid three cents per square foot for seeding, and if the field is 2500 square feet, what is Willie getting?

Database: I’d say “screwed.”

[Willie angrily chases Superintendent Chalmers who drives away.  Someone launches an egg which falls through the sunroof onto Chalmers, causing him to crash into a tree.]

Willie: Hey, who threw that egg at the most efficient 45-degree angle?

Bart (proudly): It was me, sir.

Willie (pointing to Bart): Kids, meet your new math team captain.

10. The two math teams compete in a rematch.

Frink: Our first question is a toss-up.  What is the least common multiple of six, eight, and 16?

Lisa: 48!

Frink: Is correct.

11. In a montage, one of the questions involves arithmetic and the order of operations.  Another asks for a set of real numbers defined by a combined inequality to be expressed using interval notation.  Other questions ask for solutions of algebraic equations in one and two variables and systems of algebraic equations in two variables.  During the montage, the song "𝜋” by Kate Bush plays, including the lyrics which read out the beginning of the decimal representation of that number: 3.1415926535897932.

12. Professor Frink announces the final tie-breaking question of the tournament.  On an easel, he draws the capital letter “M.”

Frink: Drawing three straight lines, construct nine non-overlapping – that’s non-overlapping, not overlapping, but non-overlapping – triangles.

[Bart looks at Homer in the audience and is inspired by the angular wisp of hair over Homer’s ear.]

Bart: I have the answer.

[The children gasp.]

Bart: As someone whose dad’s hair is made of M’s, it’s child’s play.

[Bart draws lines on Homer’s head to reveal the nine non-overlapping triangles.]

Homer: Woo-hoo!  I’m a solution!

Frink: The Action Fractions win!