[Alan walks away and Charlie has a terrified look on his face]
Charlie EppesUh. uh... Th... Scrabble's missing a piece!
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Don EppesSo what does all your behavioral science training tell you about a grown man who still lives with his mother?
Megan ReevesProbably about the same as two brothers still mooching meals at their dad's house three nights a week.
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Charlie Eppes[Larry has been waxing philosophical] Is that the kind of stuff you talk about with Megan at lunch?
Don Eppes[Don and Dad are surprised; Larry looks at Charlie, who grins mischievously] Wait, ho-ho-hold on. You and Megan went out to lunch?
Alan EppesOh, please tell me you ordered something other than white food.
[the Eppes men laugh]
Dr. Larry Fleinhardt[trying to maintain some dignity] This was a meal shared by two inquisitive minds in an intellectual pursuit.
Charlie Eppes[grinning bigger] Of course it was, like all your lunches with David. Oh, and with Colby.
Dr. Larry Fleinhardt[matter-of-factly] A gamma ray burst will release more energy in ten seconds than the sun will emit in its entire ten-billion-year lifespan.
Don EppesThat's right. I mean, didn't gamma rays turn him into the Hulk?
Dr. Larry Fleinhardt[still matter-of-factly] They come from the furthest ends of the universe, and after 45 years, we're still uncertain of their origin.
Alan EppesOh. Your brother goes into a dangerous confrontation with heavily armed felons, and you prepare him with a lecture on the movement of subatomic particles?
Alan EppesYou know, Don and Charlie, they graduated high school on the same day.
Terry LakeThank you. Don's mentioned it. A few times.
Alan EppesKind of puts an edge on that sibling rivalry thing, you know.
Terry LakeI'm sure it does. Having a kid like Charlie had to put some unusual pressure on the family. How old was he when you first realized he was exceptional?
Alan EppesHe was three when he multiplied four-digit numbers in his head. By the age of four, he needed special teachers, special classes. My wife - I mean, his mother and I, we put a lot of time into his education. It was Don who was the one who had to get used to taking care of himself.
Terry LakeWell, he might have gotten used to it, but I'm not sure he's as good at it as he thinks he is.
Alan EppesWell, it's hard for him to ask anyone for help. And it's really hard for him to ask Charlie.
Alan EppesWell, I-I like coming whenever Charlie gives one of these math-for-dummies lectures. It's the only time I actually understand what he's talking about.
Don EppesNo, buddy, look. Understand, I appreciate you care about me, but it's not going to happen.
Charlie EppesStatistically, you're dead now. You understand what that means? A man aimed a gun at your head and fired. The fact that you survived is an anomaly, and it's unlikely to be the outcome of a second such encounter.
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Alan EppesAren't you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?
Charlie EppesYou've met her before, she's not my girlfriend, I'm her thesis advisor.
Alan EppesDoes that mean she can't be your girlfriend?
Alan EppesWell, screw the rules. What's more important, learning or love? Well, I'm sure there's no rule against the father of her thesis advisor asking her out.
Charlie EppesGo for it, go right ahead, be my guest.
Amita RamanujanThank you. Actually, I'm spoken for, Mr. Eppes.
Charlie EppesDad, you're, like, hovering over us, and we have so much work to do.
Alan EppesI thought you already helped your brother out on this case.
Charlie EppesSomething this complex needed to be checked and rechecked.
Alan EppesThere's one thing you and your brother have in common: On some things, you're both very thorough; other stuff, you completely miss.
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Charlie EppesYou know, this isn't the first time I've received a love letter. When I published my first article in the American Journal of Mathematics I was invited to spend the weekend at a bed and breakfast in Santa Barbara.
Dr. Larry FleinhardtOkay, well, Charles, you are a mathematician, you're always looking for the elegant solution. Human behavior is rarely, if ever, elegant. The universe is full of these odd bumps and twists. You know, perhaps you need to make your equation less elegant, more complicated; less precise, more descriptive. It's not going to be as pretty, but it might work a little bit better. Charlie, when you're working on human problems, there's going to be pain and disappointment. You gotta ask yourself, is it worth it?
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Charlie EppesWhen we're working together, we talk and we laugh, and there's? an energy. And I don't understand why that doesn't work outside the office. Why don't we have anything else to talk about?
Dr. Larry FleinhardtYou know, you're making an underlying assumption here that I question.
Alan EppesYeah, yeah, sure. I need you to come to dinner... at the house, on Wednesday. I have a date.
Don EppesOh yeah? A date? Hey, well, that's good. With who?
Alan EppesWell, it's someone Art knows from yoga. Yeah, her name's Jill. He says she's smart, she's funny, and, uh, quite flexible. So, I, I, eh, I, wh-, we're having dinner at the house, and I would like you to be there.
Don EppesHey, look, hey. No. Just take her somewhere low-key, you'll do fine.
Alan EppesLook, it's my first date in over thirty-five years; I would like memorable instead of low-key.
Don EppesLow-key and memorable aren't mutually exclusive. You know what my favorite date ever was? Pepperoni pizza at a laundromat.
Alan EppesYes, which explains the conspicuous absence of grandchildren. So, Wednesday, 7:30. Bring a date?
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Amita RamanujanCharlie, where did you learn all this stuff about assassination?
Charlie EppesIf I told you that I'd have to kill you.
Charlie EppesYou know, I'm the king at basketball, I-I-I can snowboard, I'm the best at video games, I'm even getting over my fear of rock climbing. But I still, I can't hit this little white ball.
Charlie EppesPlease, understand, sometimes I can't choose what I work on. I can't follow through on a line of thinking just because I want to, or, or because it's needed. I have to work on what's in my head. And right now, this is what's in my head.
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Charlie EppesIt's from someone who says she's a fan of my work on low dimensional topology. And she's a fan of my... hair.
Don EppesHey. Well, I'm ready to party like it's 1899.
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Dr. Larry FleinhardtIn twenty years of teaching, I have never received evaluation comments like these. Boring - me! Intellectually, uh, inaccessible.
Charlie EppesI thought we came up on this hike to get your mind off this ridiculous thing.
Dr. Larry FleinhardtI mean, one-one student even said I'm out of touch in cutting-edge thinking in multidimensional theory. That one alone kept me up at night.
Charlie EppesEverybody gets bad evaluations now and then, come on.
Dr. Larry FleinhardtYeah, yeah, says the professor who never received less than a rave.
Charlie EppesAs with any large group, there are responses that cover the entire spectrum. I once had a girl in my combinatorics seminar tell me that I was disorganized and I taught too fast.
Charlie EppesHeisenberg's uncertainty principle. Heisenberg noted that the act of observation will effect the observed; in other words, when you watch something, you change it, and uh, uh, for example, an electron, you know, you can't really measure it without bumping into it in some small way. Any physical act of observation requires interaction with a form of energy, like light, and that will change the nature of the electron, its path of travel.
Don EppesHold on. You know I got, like, a C in physics, so just take me through how this relates to the case.
Charlie EppesDon, you've observed the robbers. They know it. That will change their actions.
Charlie EppesWell, certainly people who have failed to solve it might think that.
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[Charlie connects the computer game Minesweeper to the bank robberies]
Charlie EppesYou see this game, Larry? You've got to clear the mines without blowing any up. Each time you clear a square, a numerical value is revealed. That number tells you exactly how many squares containing mines are directly adjacent to that square. This allows you to predict where the next mine will be located and then the more boxes revealed the more accurately one can predict the location of the mines. The pattern used in these bank robberies is similar to this kind of problem-solving pattern. These robbers have used the banks they've been robbing to tell them which ones to rob next.
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Dr. Larry FleinhardtYou know, here's a discussion: Why is it that we remember the past and not the future?
Voice-over[Voice-over during the opening credits] We all use math everyday. To predict weather. To tell time. To handle money. Math is more than formulas and equations. It's logic. It's rationality. It's using your mind to solve the biggest mysteries we know.
