This episode has a quite prominent factorial in Charlie’s boardwork. The value 28! is part of a formula Charlie uses to evaluate the threat risks for a journalist who has disappeared and may have been kidnapped. With a long list of suspects, Charlie suggests creating an Asymmetric Threat Assessment to determine motive.
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In this episode a paranoid man storms into the FBI building and holds David hostage in an elevator, leaving Charlie and the FBI to scramble to find a way to free their friend and colleague.
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Charlie works to find an extremely rare comic book that was stolen during a deadly robbery at a comic book convention.
In this episode, a high-profile heiress is kidnapped by a group intent on attacking her father. Don and the team try to save her before its too late.
The math….
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Charlie talks in this episode about modeling species in an ecosystem. “Think of a pond. A pond is a healthy ecosystem where predator and prey are in balance. However, if an outside predator is introduced then the ecosystem changes. An evolutionary algorithm highlights abnormal alterations…and locates the source of a problem.” The FBI is responding to an apparent murder of someone playing a Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. Charlie likens the behavior of game players to animals in the ecosystem. “We could develop an evolutionary algorithm that searches the games history for abnormally aggressive activity.” Amita adds “That’s true. People aggress in video games in similar ways.”
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In this episode, Charlie continues to anxiously await the release of his new book as well as his first book signing. Of the many thoughts that occupy his mind are concerns over how to sign his name and how long it will take to sign his name. Should he use an initial for “Charles,” or should he use “Charlie”? Will writing his full name take too long? In his own words “I could use an adaptive algorithm adjusting the variable of time per person. Three hours, less than 1,000, but greater than…I better bring a stopwatch.” It sounds like Charlie is obsessing over this point just a bit too much.
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A bank for the rich and powerful is robbed but the stolen contents of the safety deposit boxes are being liquidated and donated to charities, and it’s up to Don and Charlie to uncover the true motivation behind the humanitarian thief.
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Episode 404, entitled “Thirteen,” revolves around Don’s team (with Charlie’s help) trying to catch a killer who leaves clues in the form of number grids at the site of each violent murder. Teachers and parents, please note that this episode contains some fairly violent scenes. Below is a discussion of the math involved, but you may want to screen the episode before discussion with students.
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This episode opens with the dramatic crash of a car slamming into a busy coffee shop. The apparent accident turns suspicious as the FBI team discovers evidence suggesting foul play. Charlie and our new character, Ray Galuski, take on the task of developing a computer simulation to reconstruct the crash scene. Charlie’s father finds it peculiar that Charlie and Ray’s simulation does not include a slew of equations plastered all over the garage. Enter the first “CharlieVision…”
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In last week’s episode, a series of secrets and blackmail involving a young, up-and-coming actor are exposed when Don and his team investigate the murder of a young woman in his Hollywood Hills mansion. And now for the math…
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