NUMB3RS 5/12 "Man Hunt" *Spoilers*

[GerryGag]

Does anyone know if they've written Sabrina Lloyd off of this show?

Her name is still listed in the credits, but she's barely been in the show these past few weeks.

And it looks like Don might hook-up with that doctor he was trying to protect.

<rant>

Speaking of that doctor...

...what's up with these people? If an FBI agent came to me and said the man you put behind bars just escaped, I'd accept witness protection in a heartbeat. So what if I lose a few months of my life. It's better than losing the rest of my life. Sometimes the writers of these shows are so stupid!!

</rant>

[JimSpence]

Check the entry for this episode in TV Tome.
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-25043/epid-411743/
Sabrina Lloyd does not appear in this episode. It was learned a week earlier that Lloyd had departed the show siting several reasons, and would not be back. Her character simply vanished, and was neither written out or sent off properly.Sorry to see her go. I wonder if Christina Cox will be seen more often now.
Also see the main page Show News in TV Tome. http://www.tvtome.com/Numb3rs/index.html

[alpacaboy]

I'm bummed. She's one of the reasons I first started watching the show. Though I guess they didn't really give her character that much to do. And she's only listed as "with Sabrina Lloyd" in the credits... Tvtome said she auditioned for the starring role in a sitcom, so if she gets that, maybe I'll get more of my Sabrina fix from that. I first noticed her in "Sports Night," so it'll be nice to see her in comedy again.

Now, all that's left for me is the math guy and John Cage explaining math, probability, physics, ... to Joel and Alex.

[Kylep]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the two goats and a car thing they did. I know some of the "math" they do is a bit... funky... but he got me wondering with that one.

[miscellaneous]

It wasn't exactly what he said, but the principle is this:

If you give somebody three doors, they pick one, and you expose one of the other doors as a bad choice, the question is 'will changing your choice make your odds better.' The answer is yes, even though it looks like its a 50-50 shot. It makes more sense if you increase the size of the experiment.

Take 100 doors. I tell you that $50 is behind one of the doors. Pick one.

Now I show you 97 of the other doors don't have the money behind them. Is it smarter to change your choice, or is it the same?

The answer is, the first time you had a 1-in-100 chance of being right, so the odds of you picking the right door are terrible. Now that I've exposed a bunch of the doors, your odds of the remaining choices being the right one is 1-in-3. It makes much more sense to change your choice.

[alpacaboy]

The goat/car thing kind of freaks me out too. But I guess if you enumerate the possibilities, it makes sense. You have three cards: Goat1, Goat2, Car.

Suppose you first choose Goat1. Since the rule is that Charlie turns over a goat that is not the card you picked, he turns over Goat2. The other card is the Car, so it is in your best interest to switch.

Suppose you first choose Goat2. Since the rule is that Charlie turns over a goat that is not the card you picked, he turns over Goat1. The other card is the Car, so it is in your best interest to switch.

Suppose you first choose the Car. Charlie can turn over Goat1 or Goat2. It is bad to switch.

So in 2/3 cases, you should switch.
I just figured this explanation out now without increasing the size of the experiment. Still freaks me out though.

[WinBear]

Interestingly enough, we once had a huge thread on this very problem over in the Happy Hour.

[JAJ]

This show frustrates me. How did the killer (McDowell?) NOT shoot the doctor as he was running up the stairs. It's not like he's worried about having another murder to his name, he already shot the marshal and he's shooting at Agent Epps. If his *WHOLE* reason to break out of custody was to hunt down the doc, then there's no way he just lets her go without firing a few shots at her.

[lordrichter]

This episode annoyed me at a basic level. The FBI would not be leading the search for an escaped federal prisoner. That would be the role of the U.S. Marshals Service. They were barely mentioned.

Besides, Tommy Lee Jones does it better. :)

[astrohip]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the two goats and a car thing they did. I know some of the "math" they do is a bit... funky... but he got me wondering with that one.

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_189.html

http://utopia.utexas.edu/project/heart_math/deal2.html

Always interesting conundrum for us math geeks . . .

[MauriAnne]

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_189.html

http://utopia.utexas.edu/project/heart_math/deal2.html

Always interesting conundrum for us math geeks . . .

Caught this episode in reruns this weekend.. and am thrilled that this thread was here or I'd still be scratching my head over goats & cars.


(ewww.. that sounds nasty!)