List of Numb3rs episodes

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This is a list of Numb3rs episodes for the CBS television series Numb3rs. The series started on January 23, 2005 with the first season ending on May 13, 2005. The second season began on September 23, 2005 and ended on May 19, 2006. The third season began on September 22, 2006, and ended on May 18, 2007. The fourth season began on September 28, 2007, and ended on May 16, 2008.

Contents

[edit] Season 1: 2005

Season 1 premiered on January 23, 2005 and finished on May 13, 2005. The first season sees the start of the working relationship between Don Eppes, an FBI agent, and his genius brother Charlie, an applied mathematician and professor at a local university. The rest of Don's FBI team consists of Terry Lake and David Sinclair. Don and Charlie's father, Alan Eppes, provides emotional support for the pair, while the brilliant Professor Larry Fleinhardt and promising doctoral student Amita Ramanujan provide mathematical support and insights to Charlie.

Title Writer(s) Director(s) Original Airdate #
"Pilot" Nicolas Falacci, Cheryl Heuton Davis Guggenheim, Mick Jackson January 23, 2005 101
Charlie assists Don on a serial rapist case by calculating a "hot zone", an area where the rapist is most likely to live. Don is removed from the case after Charlie's formula fails to turn up any leads.

Mathematics used: Geographic profiling, probability theory, 11-dimensional supergravity theory, and projectile motion
"Uncertainty Principle" Nicolas Falacci, Cheryl Heuton David Von Ancken January 28, 2005 102
Charlie successfully predicts the time and place of a bank robbery using what he says are elements of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle (he's really talking about the observer effect), but when the planned arrest goes bad, he retreats into the math problem P vs. NP.

Mathematics used: P vs. NP and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle
"Vector" Jeff Vlaming David Von Ancken February 4, 2005 103
A deadly strain of influenza is spreading through Los Angeles. Don investigates whether the strain was released deliberately, and Charlie tries to calculate the origin and likely spread of the virus.

Mathematics used: Patient Zero, Viral vector, Vector, SIR model
"Structural Corruption" Liz Friedman Tim Matheson February 11, 2005 104
An engineering student commits suicide, but Charlie suspects foul play. Don disagrees, but he agrees to help Charlie investigate whether the student was murdered because of his research into a building's structural integrity.

Mathematics used: Pendulum and Foucault pendulum
"Prime Suspect" Doris Egan Lesli Linka Glatter February 18, 2005 105
A young girl is kidnapped, but her parents refuse to cooperate with Don's investigation. The girl's father is a mathematician, and the kidnapping may be related to his work on the Riemann hypothesis.

Mathematics used: Cryptography, prime numbers, Riemann hypothesis and Riemann zeta function
"Sabotage" Liz Friedman Lou Antonio February 25, 2005 106
Don is investigating a series of train accidents which are recreations of previous wrecks. The saboteur leaves a note composed entirely of numbers.

Mathematics used: Kasiski examination, Cryptography, Fibonacci sequence, golden ratio and Beale ciphers
"Counterfeit Reality" Andrew Dettman Alex Zakrzewski March 11, 2005 107
A strange series of robberies leads Don into a case involving counterfeit money, kidnapping and murder. Don is aided by Secret Service agent Kim Hall while Charlie uses math to analyze fake bank notes and track their spread.

Mathematics used: Guilloché pattern and wavelet analysis
"Identity Crisis" Wendy West Martha Mitchell April 1, 2005 108
A new case with disturbing similarities to an old case leads Don to question whether he put the right man in jail. While Don tries to find the connection between the two cases, he asks Charlie to look for mistakes or flaws in the first case.

Mathematics used: Poker, geometric progression - paper folding, pyramid scheme, fingerprint and Schrödinger's cat
"Sniper Zero" Ken Sanzel J. Miller Tobin April 15, 2005 109
Don is investigating a series of sniper killings, and Charlie is searching for an underlying pattern to the attacks. What appears to be bad data can't be eliminated from the analysis, because it fits the only pattern he can find.

Features appearance by Ian Edgerton. Mathematics used: projectile motion, Tipping Point, regression toward the mean and exponential growth
"Dirty Bomb" Andrew Dettman Paris Barclay April 22, 2005 110
A truck carrying radioactive waste disappears, and Don fears that a dirty bomb will be set off in downtown Los Angeles.

Mathematics used: Game theory - prisoner's dilemma, radioactive decay
"Sacrifice" Ken Sanzel Paul Holahan April 29, 2005 111
A researcher is murdered in his home, and Charlie must reconstruct data erased from his computer while Don investigates possible suspects.

Mathematics used: Sabermetrics, Econometrics
"Noisy Edge" Nicolas Falacci, Cheryl Heuton J. Miller Tobin May 6, 2005 112
An unidentified flying object travels over Los Angeles and then disappears. Don suspects terrorist activity, and Charlie tries to find out more about the object and its flight path.

Mathematics used: Combinatorics and conditional probability distribution - "squish-squash" with Fourier analysis
"Man Hunt" Andrew Dettman Martha Mitchell May 13, 2005 113
A prison bus crashes, allowing two dangerous convicts to escape. Don is joined by his former partner from Fugitive Recovery as the Bureau launches an effort to recapture them.

Mathematics used: Bayesian inference, Markov chain, Chapman-Kolmogorov equation and Monty Hall problem

[edit] Season 2: 2005-2006

Season 2 premiered on 23 September 2005 and its season finale was on 19 May 2006. Season two sees several changes to Don's FBI team: Terry Lake is reassigned to Washington DC and two new members join Don and David Sinclair: Megan Reeves and Colby Granger. Charlie is challenged on one of his long-standing pieces of mathematical work and also starts work on a new theory, Cognitive Emergence Theory. Larry sells his home and lives a nomadic lifestyle, while he becomes romantically involved with Megan. Amita receives an offer for an assistant professor position at Harvard University, but is plagued by doubt as her relationship with Charlie is challenged and her career is in upheaval. Alan begins work and dating again, though he struggles with the loss of his wife, and both he and Charlie have a dream of her.

Title Writer(s) Director(s) Original Airdate #
"Judgment Call" Ken Sanzel Alex Zakrzewski September 23, 2005 201
When a judge's wife is shot and killed, Don and his team look into the judge's cases to determine if one of his verdicts led to the murder.

Mathematics used: Scatterplot, bayesian spam filtering and conditional probability
"Better or Worse" Andrew Dettman J. Miller Tobin September 30, 2005 202
Don and his team are called in when a woman attempting to rob a jewelry store in Beverly Hills is shot by a security guard.

Mathematics used: Von Neumann cellular automata, Farey sequence and pseudo-random numbers
"Obsession" Robert Port John Behring October 7, 2005 203
The FBI becomes involved in the stalking of a popular singer after she is threatened by an intruder in her house and reveals a series of threatening letters she's received through the mail.

Mathematics used: Trigonometry, curvelet analysis, Forensic Information System for Handwriting, spherical astronomy and art gallery problem
"Calculated Risk" J. David Harden Bill Eagles October 14, 2005 204
Don and Megan are called to the murder scene when the CFO of a powerful energy company — who was about to testify against her fellow executives — is murdered at her home and her son is the only witness.

Mathematics used: Conditional probability and compound interest
"Assassin" Nicolas Falacci, Cheryl Heuton Bobby Roth October 21, 2005 205
Along with David Sinclair and new FBI Agent Colby Granger, Don discovers a secret code during a raid and enlists Charlie's help to crack it.

Trivia: The chess game shown during Charlie's explanation is Paul Morphy's Opera House Game

Mathematics used: transposition cipher, Game theory and paper plane
"Soft Target" Don McGill Andy Wolk November 4, 2005 206
A week-long series of counter-terrorism exercises are put to the test by Homeland Security in Los Angeles, but the first one is violated by someone who releases a potentially lethal gas in the subway system.

Mathematics used: Percolation theory and diffusion
"Convergence" Nicolas Falacci, Cheryl Heuton Dennis Smith November 11, 2005 207
Don investigates a series of home invasions in which the thieves steal only high-end items from wealthy individuals. Meanwhile, an old adversary challenges Charlie's work.

Mathematics used: Group theory, data-mining, Fourier analysis, calendars, Three-dimensional trilateration, Set theory and projectile motion
"In Plain Sight" Julie Hébert John Behring November 18, 2005 208
Megan feels responsible for an agent's death following an explosion at a house where meth is being illegally produced and that the FBI targeted for a bust.

Mathematics used: Flock behavior, steganography and matrices - error correction code
"Toxin" Ken Sanzel Jefery Levy November 25, 2005 209
Don learns that someone is poisoning non-prescription drugs made by a leading pharmaceutical company after four people nearly die from the tampering.

Mathematics used: Information theory - information entropy, graph theory - Seven Bridges of Königsberg and soap bubble theory with Steiner tree
"Bones of Contention" Christos Gage, Ruth Fletcher Jeannot Szwarc December 9, 2005 210
A woman researcher who specializes in Native American antiquities is attacked and killed at the museum where she works. The museum is located on federal land so the FBI is called in.

Mathematics used: Exponential decay and Voronoi diagram
"Scorched" Sean Crouch Norberto Barba December 16, 2005 211
An arsonist believed to be part of an extremist environmental group sets a fire at a car dealership that kills a salesman. The group's name is spray painted at the scene and is the fourth such fire, but the first to claim a life.

Mathematics Used : Combustion and Principal components analysis

Trivia : The writers of the book "Essays on Revolution" mentioned in this episode are Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton.
"The OG" Andrew Dettman Rod Holcomb January 6, 2006 212
When Don and his team are called to the murder scene of a Los Angeles gang member, they learn the victim is a fellow agent who had been working undercover.

Mathematics used: Poisson distribution and social network analysis

Trivia: The teaser features the chorus from the song "Remember the Name".
"Double Down" Don McGill Alex Zakrzewski January 13, 2006 213
When the FBI is called to investigate a murder at a Los Angeles card club, it leads the agents to unravel a complicated card counting scheme involving a group of college students whose lives may now be at risk.

Mathematics used: Probability involving sampling without replacement, time series analysis and randomization
"Harvest" J. David Harden John Behring January 27, 2006 214
A South Asian teenager is found in the blood-spattered basement of an old downtown hotel where she was apparently being tortured. The investigation soon reveals that the girl, along with three other missing women, are victims of a black-market organ-harvesting scheme.

Mathematics used: Markov chain, ellipses and Genetic variation
"The Running Man" Ken Sanzel Terrence O'Hara February 3, 2006 215
A DNA synthesizer with the capability of customizing diseases is stolen from the campus where Charlie teaches, and Don fears the thieves may be terrorists out to start or advance a bio-warfare program.

Mathematics used: Benford's law, continued fraction, astronomy, and probability
"Protest" Nicolas Falacci, Cheryl Heuton Dennis Smith March 3, 2006 216
A pedestrian is killed when a homemade bomb explodes under a car outside of a downtown Army recruiting center. The investigation reveals that a similar bombing occurred exactly 35 years ago at an ROTC office that killed two people.

Mathematics used: Graph theory, Ramsey numbers, and recursive sequence
"Mind Games" Andrew Dettman Peter Markle March 10, 2006 217
When the bodies of three illegal-immigrant women are found on government-owned land in a wilderness area, Don investigates and learns a psychic led the police to the crime scene after allegedly seeing visions of the bodies. Charlie becomes extremely annoyed after learning that Don is using the psychic's help to solve the case, and refuses to recognize that true psychics exist.

Mathematics used: Fokker-Planck equation and Binomial theorem
"All's Fair" Julie Hébert Rob Morrow March 31, 2006 218
In an effort to find the murderer of an Iraqi woman, Don enlists the help of the victim's cousin, who lives in Los Angeles. Through her cousin, Don learns information about the woman's disturbing connection to Saddam Hussein, which could lead to her murderer. Meanwhile, Charlie reunites with an ex-girlfriend, a best-seller neuropsychologist.

Mathematics used: Density, Sudoku, logistic regression, and game theory
"Dark Matter" Don McGill Peter Ellis April 7, 2006 219
As Don and his team investigate the motive behind two students' deadly school shooting, Charlie uses the school's radio frequency identification system to track the shooters' movements through the school's hallways.

Mathematics used: RFID, and optimization problem
"Guns and Roses" Robert Port Stephen Gyllenhaal April 21, 2006 220
When an ATF agent is found dead amid questionable circumstances, Don demands to take on the case, which revolves around an elaborate bank heist, after he learns the victim is his ex-girlfriend.

Mathematics used: Echolocation and biomathematics (DNA sequence alignment).
"Rampage" Ken Sanzel J. Miller Tobin April 28, 2006 221
After an unknown man opens fire in the FBI offices, Don and his team must investigate his motive and his connection to a dangerous arms dealer who is on trial.

Mathematics used : Chaos theory, Brownian Motion, Self-organized criticality, Venn diagram and tesseract/hypercube
"Backscatter" Nicolas Falacci, Cheryl Heuton Bill Eagles May 5, 2006 222
An FBI investigation into a computer hacking scam, which taps into a bank's system to gain access to customer's identities and financial assets, becomes personal for Don when the Russian mob spearheading it comes after him and threatens the safety of Charlie and Alan.

Mathematics used: Explicit functions, implicit functions, geometric progression and exponential growth. Also used was Neil Sloane's Integer Sequence Database.
"Undercurrents" J. David Harden J. Miller Tobin May 12, 2006 223
Five young Chinese girls wash up on the shore; while Charlie works out where they came from, it emerges that one of the girls is carrying Avian Flu.

Mathematics used: Encoding, vector fields, kinematics and n-dimensional space
"Hot Shot" Barry Schindel John Behring May 19, 2006 224
When two women are found dead with an apparent drug overdose, Don suspects a serial killer. Charlie's help on Don's case is hindered by his bizarre dream about his mother.

Mathematics used: Directed graph, parabolic equations and probability, Trajectory

[edit] Season 3: 2006-2007

Season 3 premiered on September 22, 2006 with the episode "Spree" and had its season finale "The Janus List" on May 18, 2007. Charlie and Amita intensify their relationship, as do Larry and Megan. Amita has troubles adjusting in her new role as a CalSci professor, and Larry announces his leave of absence—he will be on the space station for six months, which greatly distresses Charlie. Dr. Mildred Finch, the newly-appointed Chair of the CalSci Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy Division, initially troubles Charlie and his colleagues, as Alan dates her. Don dates Agent Liz Warner, questions his ethics and self-worth, and receives counseling. Charlie sees Don's therapist and the two understand one another more. Alan engages in some FBI consulting with his knowledge of engineering, and Larry returns from the space station, although disillusioned. The finale wraps up with a revelation that shakes the whole team.

Title Writer(s) Director(s) Original Airdate #
"Spree" Ken Sanzel John Behring September 22, 2006 301
Don is on the trail of a criminal couple consisting of a 30 year old teacher and a 17 year student who are committing crimes across the country. Charlie and Amita's relationship changes and Alan decides to move out. The episode ends in a cliffhanger with Crystal Hoyle, the 30-year-old teacher, taking Megan hostage.

Mathematics used: pursuit curves and geodesic sphere
"Two Daughters" Ken Sanzel Alex Zakrzewski September 29, 2006 302
Continued from last episode, Don and his team look for Crystal's old contacts. When Megan is kidnapped, things get personal for the team.

Mathematics used: polar spirals and parametric equations
"Provenance" Don McGill David Von Ancken October 6, 2006 303
A painting worth millions of dollars is stolen from a museum and when a related murder plot surfaces, shocking details begin to arise.

Mathematics used: Linear diophantine equations and Curvelet analysis
"The Mole" Robert Port Stephen Gyllenhaal October 13, 2006 304
The death of a Chinese interpreter leads Don and his team to investigate a possible mole from within the Department of Justice. Colby covers up information on Don's case for a friend. Charlie is upset when Larry publishes a paper without his help.

Mathematics used: Steady Motion Algorithm, Curtate cycloid, symmetry and combinatorics
"Traffic" Nicolas Falacci, Cheryl Heuton J. Miller Tobin October 20, 2006 305
A series of violent highway attacks which appear to be random puzzles Don and his team.

Mathematics used: Randomness, partial differential equations and traffic flow
"Longshot" J. David Harden John Behring October 27, 2006 306
The team investigates the death of a man armed with a sophisticated statistical analysis that can identify the winning horse at a race track.

Mathematics used: Probability, Arbitrage betting and Data mining
"Blackout" Andrew Dettman Scott Lautanen November 3, 2006 307
After an attack on a power station which left parts of Los Angeles in the dark, the team must find the assailant's real target.

Mathematics used: Center of mass, harmonic series, directed graph, Load flow analysis and Dantzig-Wolfe Decomposition Note: This is a continuation of "Longshot"
"Hardball" Nicolas Falacci, Cheryl Heuton Fred Keller November 10, 2006 308
A minor league baseball player is found dead of steroid abuse, leading the investigators to an unusual chain of suspects.

Mathematics used: Sabermetrics and Shiryaev-Roberts Change-point analysis
Trivia: A conversation between Sinclair and Colby mentions Blade Runner and its producer Ridley Scott. Scott also produces Numb3rs with brother Tony Scott.
"Waste Not" Julie Hebert J. Miller Tobin November 17, 2006 309
Mysterious cancer clusters are found around a number of elementary schools whose playgrounds were all paved by the same company. A new CalSci administrator pains Charlie and his colleagues, while Alan dates her.

Mathematics used: Groundwater flow equation and Cancer clusters
"Brutus" Ken Sanzel Oz Scott November 24, 2006 310
A California State Senator and a psychiatrist--neither have much in common with the other except for one thing...they both turn up dead on Don's watch. While the circumstances of their deaths are different, Don thinks the two murders are related, and tries to prove his hunch right. What he finds may bring to light a deep secret the government has been hiding for years.

Mathematics used: Network flow, network theory, Euclid's Orchard and Target Selection Theory.
"Killer Chat" Don McGill Chris Hartwill December 15, 2006 311
Don and Charlie track a killer who has murdered several sex predators. The predators took advantage of teenage girls they met in chat rooms. Meanwhile, Larry is ready to begin an adventure with NASA.

Mathematics used: Statistical Textual Analysis and principal components analysis Trivia: Featured music is Elton John's Rocket Man. Buzz Aldrin guest stars.
"Nine Wives" Julie Hébert Julie Hébert January 5, 2007 312
Don, Charlie, and the team search for a polygamist who is on the run. The man is on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List for rape and murder.

Mathematics used: Lévy flights, Inbreeding coefficients and Kinship chains
Trivia: The polygamist in this episode is unofficially based on Warren Jeffs.
"Finders Keepers" Andrew Dettman Colin Bucksey January 12, 2007 313
After an extremely expensive yacht sinks in the middle of a race, Charlie is put between a rock and a hard place when Don and the NSA need his help on the case.

Mathematics used: fluid dynamics, Constraint and Optimization
"Take Out" Sean Crouch Leslie Libman February 2, 2007 314
When two police officers are killed while eating dinner out, Charlie tries to figure out where the killers will strike next. Don's superiors make him see the department shrink.

Mathematics used: Outliers and data mining
"End of Watch" Robert Port, Mark Llewellyn Michael Watkins February 9, 2007 315
Don and the team reopen a cold case when an LAPD badge turns up at a construction site. When Charlie joins the investigation, they attempt to track down the owner of the badge, an officer who has been missing 17 years. Meanwhile, Alan is informed that he's being sued.

Mathematics used: Laser Swath Mapping and Quantum Mechanics
"Contenders" J. David Harden Alex Zakrzewski February 16, 2007 316
One of David's closest friends is called into question after a man dies during an Mixed martial arts sparring match. When it turns out this is not the first time such an event has happened, things look even worse. Charlie is busy practicing what little he knows about poker, so he can take Larry's spot in a tournament.

Mathematics used: Kruskal's algorithm, Flow network
"One Hour" Ken Sanzel J. Miller Tobin February 23, 2007 317
Don talks to his therapist again, and while he's gone, the team races to find an eleven year-old boy being held on a $3 million ransom, and time is running out...

Mathematics used: 'cake-cutting' algorithm, Logic maze, and State diagram. Amita uses a type exploit to track a VoIP call.
Trivia: This episode is presented in real-time format and makes extensive use of the Disney Hall by Frank Gehry.
"Democracy" Cheryl Heuton, Nicolas Falacci Steve Boyum March 9, 2007 318
Several area murders seem to be tied to voter fraud. Don, Charlie, and the team must find the killers before they strike again.

Mathematics used: Statistics, Probability theory, metadata and Organizational theory

Trivia: Jay Baruchel, originally seen in 308 "Hardball", reprises his role as Oswald Kittner.
"Pandora's Box" Andrew Black Dennis Smith March 30, 2007 319
When a jet crashes in the middle of a forest, Charlie suspects that there is more to the crash than what meets the eye.

Mathematics used: Ito-Stratonovich drift integrals and wavelet deconvolution
"Burn Rate" Don McGill Frederick K Keller April 6, 2007 320
Don and Charlie hunt for a serial letter bomber and disagree over whether a key suspect, a physics professor working as a consultant on explosives for the Department of Defense who eluded conviction once before, is responsible for the latest murder.

Mathematics used: explosions, Paradigm shift, coherence and outliers
"The Art of Reckoning" Juile Hebert John Behring April 27, 2007 321
When a former mob hit man on death row suddenly has a change of heart and agrees to confess to his crimes, Don has an uneasy feeling about the whole affair. Larry returns from his NASA mission.

Mathematics used: probability theory, game theory (tit for tat)
Trivia: Featured music is John Mayer's Gravity.
"Under Pressure" Andrew Dettman J. Miller Tobin May 4, 2007 322
Don, Charlie and the team take on unknown terrorists who may be using nerve gas to undermine the city's water supply.

Mathematics used: Social Network Analysis
"Money For Nothing" Nicolas Falacci, Cheryl Heuton Stephen Gyllenhaal May 11, 2007 323
$50 million dollars in medical relief is up for grabs after the shipment is stolen. But there's a catch--someone other than the FBI wants to recover the shipment. Don and the team find themselves pitted against blackmarketeers in a deadly race for the supplies.

Mathematics used: Greedy algorithm and Dijkstra's algorithm
"The Janus List" Robert Port, Ken Sanzel John Behring May 18, 2007 324
In the wake of a deadly standoff with a mysterious, yet brilliant bomber, Don and Charlie discover that he was poisoned to keep him from exposing a shocking secret that will change the FBI team forever.

Mathematics used: Merkle-Hellman, Wheat and Chessboard Problem, straddling checkerboard, substitution cipher, Bacon's cipher, knapsack problem, Lorentz force

[edit] Season 4: 2007-2008

Due to the Writers Guild of America strike, only 12 episodes were initially produced for this season. Following the end of the strike, six more were announced for airing starting on April 4, 2008.

Title Writer(s) Director(s) Original Airdate #
"Trust Metric" Ken Sanzel Tony Scott September 28, 2007 401
After the events of "The Janus List," Colby escapes from custody. Don and the team go after him, but everything may not be as it seems.

Mathematics used: Trust metric, Set covering deployment, Heuristics, Illumination problem
"Hollywood Homicide" Andy Dettmann Alexander Zakrzewski October 5, 2007 402
An actor on his way to stardom finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation when a young woman is murdered in his house.

Mathematics used: Snell's law, Archimedes' principle, game theory
"Velocity" Cheryl Heuton, Nicolas Falacci Fred Keller October 12, 2007 403
When a car crashes into a busy coffee shop, the team discovers the fatal act might not have been an accident.

Mathematics used: Angular momentum, Centripetal force, Conservation laws, Newton's laws of motion
"Thirteen" Don McGill Ralph Hemecker October 19, 2007 404
Don, Charlie, and the team attempt to stop a serial killer who is seemingly obsessed with people resembling Biblical figures.

Mathematics used: Fibonacci coding, Numerology, Hebrew numerology
"Robin Hood" Robert Port J. Miller Tobin October 26, 2007 405
Robberies the storybook hero would have been proud to claim plague Don and Charlie as they attempt to catch a do-good thief who is donating his spoils to charity.

Mathematics used: Listing's law, Projectile motion, Dating system
"In Security" Sean Crouch Stephen Gyllenhaal November 2, 2007 406
Don feels responsible for a life lost. The victim was in the Witness Protection Program, but she wasn't the only one keeping secrets...what is Don hiding?

Mathematics used: Regression Analysis
"Primacy" Julie Hebert Chris Hartwill November 9, 2007 407
When a man is found dead, the team enters the world of alternate reality gaming. However, their investigation leads to a danger for a loved one.

Mathematics used: Evolutionary algorithm
"Tabu" Sekou Hamilton Alex Zakrzewski November 16, 2007 408
When a wealthy heiress is kidnapped, Don and the team race against the clock in hopes to find her. However, the motivations behind her disappearance aren't what they seem.

Mathematics used: Tabu search, Minimax, Bayesian priors
"Graphic" Cheryl Heuton, Nicolas Falacci John Behring November 23, 2007 409
A comic-book convention becomes a crime scene when a deadly robbery leads to the disappearance of an extremely rare comic book. Christopher Lloyd (Ross Moore), Wil Wheaton (Miles Sklar) and Ben Feldman (Seth Marlowe) guest star.

Mathematics used: Fractal Dimension Analysis, Auction Theory, Wrinkliness (Detection of Handwriting Forgery)
"Chinese Box" Ken Sanzel Dennis Smith December 14, 2007 410
Don and the team are left with little recourse when a former FBI subcontractor takes a team member hostage. Enrico Colantoni and Chris Bruno guest star.

Mathematics used: Chinese room, Chomp, Cluster Analysis
"Breaking Point" Andrew Dettman Craig Ross, Jr. January 11, 2008 411
An investigative reporter goes missing, and an attempt is made to kill Charlie after he tries to help the FBI.

Mathematics used: Regression Analysis
"Power" Julie Hébert Julie Hébert January 18, 2008 412
Don and the team track down an officer who has turned into a serial rapist.

Mathematics used: Network theory, Set Theory
"Black Swan" Ken Sanzel John Behring April 4, 2008 413
The team takes down an inner-city meth lab, and while on the bust they also arrest a bystander who is discovered to have guns and other suspicious items in the back of his van.

Mathematics used: Black swan theory, Floyd-Warshall algorithm, Dirichlet tessellation, Brute Force, Time series
"Checkmate" Robert Port Stephen Gyllenhaal April 11, 2008 414
Don's old flame returns to California to prosecute an incarcerated criminal kingpin who seems to be ordering assassinations from within the prison. Don and team find themselves in a race against time to convince a teenage chess genius who may be the clue into finding how the orders are being sent.

Mathematics used: Supervised Multiclass Labeling, Mathematics of paper folding, Diamond cut, Chess, Algebraic chess notation
"End Game" Don McGill Dennis Smith April 25, 2008 415
Don and his team hunt for an ex-Marine wanted for murder. Things become confusing, however, when the Marine's family is kidnapped. Is there more to this case than meets the eye?

Mathematics used: OODA Loop, Decision Theory
"Atomic No. 33" Sean Crouch Leslie Libman May 2, 2008 416
Don and the team must investigate a religious cult after scores of followers are poisoned.

Mathematics used: Bayesian network analysis, Non-Newtonian fluid, Social network analysis, Affinity analysis, K-optimal pattern discovery
"Pay to Play" Andrew Dettman, Steve Cohen Alex Zakrzewski May 9, 2008 417
When a musician is murdered, Don and his team must race to find the culprits. They need Charlie's help, but he is busy with Amita's parents coming for a visit.

Mathematics used: String metric, Gröbner basis
"When Worlds Collide" Cheryl Heuton, Nicolas Falacci John Behring May 16, 2008 418
In the season finale, Don and Charlie work together on a case that ends up with them going head to head about their personal beliefs, and one team member will walk away forever.

Mathematics used: Byzantine fault tolerance, Figure-Ground, Wallpaper group, M. C. Escher, Hyperbolic geometry, Six degrees of separation

[edit] References

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Numb3rs
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