| Title: | Mathematics at DEC |
| Moderator: | RUSURE::EDP |
| Created: | Mon Feb 03 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 2083 |
| Total number of notes: | 14613 |
According to TV Guide, this week's episode of the Twilight Zone (Friday 13-Dec-1985 8PM CBS) may have something to do with mathematics. The episode, entitled "I of Newton", is described as follows: To save his soul, a mathematician engages in a battle of wits with a demon he inadvertantly conjures up.
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 397.1 | AURORA::HALLYB | Tue Dec 10 1985 14:01 | 2 | ||
Reminds me of a short story I once read, in which the mathemetician wins by asking if Fermat's Last Theorem is true. | |||||
| 397.2 | LATOUR::AMARTIN | Thu Dec 12 1985 10:37 | 2 | ||
I wonder if they are adapting Larry Niven's short story "Convergent Series"? /AHM | |||||
| 397.3 | LATOUR::AMARTIN | Sat Dec 14 1985 21:51 | 3 | ||
Well, I just remembered to watch the show about a day late, so could someone summarize the plot (or at least the interesting parts)? /AHM/THX | |||||
| 397.4 | TOOLS::STAN | Sun Dec 15 1985 10:56 | 13 | ||
(spoiler warning) It was only a 10-minute vignette. Mathematician, having trouble solving some equation exclaims he'd sell his soul for the answer, and a hip-looking devil arrives. Devil gives him 3 questions and then he may set a task for the devil to perform. If devil succeeds, then guy loses his soul, else person gets out of deal and saves his soul. Upon questioning, mathematician learns devil can do just about anything and there's no place he could be sent to from which he couldn't find his way back. So the task he proposed is "Get lost" and that's the last we see of the devil. Pretty corny, but some nice side effects such as devil's T-shirt motto changes every 30 seconds. | |||||