Mathematics and Star Trek
In a 1989 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation titled “The Royale,” Captain Jean-Luc Picard says that in the 24th century, this famous theorem remains unsolved after nearly 800 years…yet it was solved by Andrew Wiles 6 years after this episode aired
What is Fermat’s Last Theorem?
The area of circle inscribed in a square of area 1
pi/4
Touring Plans is a website that uses mathematics and graph theory to minimize the wait times at these Orlando-area attractions
What are theme parks (Disney/Universal)?
This actress from the 1980s hit “The Wonder Years” studied mathematics at UCLA where she co-authored the research paper "Percolation and Gibbs states multiplicity for ferromagnetic Ashkin–Teller models on Z2” better known as the Chayes-McKellar-Wynn Theorem
Who is Danica McKellar? (need full name)
The game show Wheel of Fortune has 24 spaces in the bonus round wheel with 3 spaces being reserved for the Mini Cooper. Each day’s spin is independent. Find the probability bonus round contestants in 3 straight shows all win Mini Cooper
What is 1 in 512?
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode titled “Descent”, Lt Commander Data is playing Poker on the holodeck with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein (played by actors), and this physicist who played himself as a cameo
Who is Stephen Hawking?
The area of a circle circumscribed about a square of area 1
pi/2
The only United States president who taught mathematics, he was assassinated in 1881 after less than one year in office
Who is James Garfield?
This Hollywood star of the 40s and 50s was a self-taught mathematician and inventor who patented a communication system during World War II which was later incorporated into Bluetooth, GPS, CDMA, and Wi-Fi technology
Who is Hedy Lamarr?
The big wheel on the Price is Right has 20 numbered values with 17 numbers that are white, 2 numbers that are green, and one number that is red. Find the probability on two consecutive independent spins of the wheel, the contestant hits the red space both times thus winning $25000
What is 1 out of 400?
This engineer and first black woman to travel into space in 1987, appeared in cameo as Lt. Palmer in the 1993 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation titled “Second Chances”
Who is Mae Jemison?
The area of a right triangle with hypotenuse 25 and one leg 24
What is 84?
The numbers 1 7 21 35 35 21 7 1 appear in 8th row of this “triangle”
What is Pascal’s Triangle?
This mathematics major at DeAnza College in California was headed for a career in mathematics before her big acting break cast her as Lois Lane in the Lois and Clark and she later won a Golden Globe for her role on ABC’s Desperate Housewives
Who is Teri Hatcher?
A probability problem involving three doors with one car and two goats behind the three doors, based on the game show Let’s Make a Deal, is better known colloquially as this problem named for the original host/creator of the show
What is the Monte Hall Problem?
On the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode titled “The Nth Degree”, Lt Barclay gains super intelligence and is solving differential equations with what 20th century physicist/mathematician known for “ E=MC2 ”
Who is Albert Einstein?
The volume of a cylindrical pizza of diameter length 16 inches and thickness 1 inch
64pi cubic inches
The only perfect number between 100 and 8000
What is 496?
John Urschel, who has a Ph.D. in mathematics from MIT, retired from the NFL after three season as a starting offensive lineman for this AFC North football team
Who are the Baltimore Ravens?
The highest possible score on this game show is $566,400 and could only be achieved if one of the three contestants answers all 61 questions correctly
What is Jeopardy?
This “speed” of the Star Trek starship enterprise can go beyond normally impenetrable limit of light speed (nearly 300000 km/sec in a vacuum) and is given this name on the show
What is warp speed?
The number of real zeroes of a parabola with vertex at (-2, -1) and leading coefficient of the squared term of -2
What is 0?
The great-great grandson of William Lowell Putnam, who is the namesake for the Putnam exam, is a current US Congressman who replaced Joe Kennedy III as of 2020 from district 4 in this state
What is Massachusetts?
Jonny Buckland, guitarist for this band best known for their 2008 triple platinum hit Viva La Vida, met his bandmates while as a mathematics undergraduate at University College London
What is Coldplay?
Contestant Michael Larsen broke the bank by memorizing the patterns of money and whammies on this mid 1980s daytime show winning over $100000 by avoiding whammies 40 times in a row when a typical contestant hit a whammy on 1 out of every 6 spins
What is Press Your Luck?