The Simpsons is a popular TV sitcom that is not necessarily directed for young children but is aimed at older children and adults, some may find the content humorous and entertaining while others may think the content isn't fit to be on TV and the common catch phrase from Bart Simpson, "Eat my shorts", is nothing more then teaching young children to be brazen and ignorant. Some others may also think of the cartoon within the show Itchy and Scratchy is nothing more then a form of violence that teaches children that is is ok for a mouse to shoot at a cats head with a cannon, place a cat in a blender and then serve him as a drink, pour spiders on his head that eat his flesh, or hang him by his intestines into a volcano of hot lava.
I do understand where the parents of young children would be concerned about these issues however The Simpsons is the longest running sitcom of all time. It has been running in prime time television for the last 20 years, they must be doing something right. In fact The Simpsons has a large reference to various academic subjects including mathematics. It contains over one hundred references to math that range from arithmetic to geometry to calculus. Many of these references are aimed to poke fun at innumeracy.
Al Jean is the current Executive Producer and Head Writer of The Simpsons and has been involved with The Simpsons since the show began in 1989. He graduated from Harvard University in 1981 with a Bachelor of Mathematics. Ken Keeler was a writer for The Simpsons from 1994-1998. He graduated from Harvard University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Applied Mathematics and later received his Ph.D in Mathematics in 1990 (also from Harvard). J. Stewart Burns graduated from Harvard University in 1992 with his Bachelor of Mathematics, and his Masters Degree from UC Berkeley in 1993, he began working on The Simpsons in 2002 after he got his start on another cartoon show, Futurama.
Other members of The Simpsons staff have a physics degree, Ph.D in inorganic chemistry, and Ph.D in computer science. These multiple areas of academics are represented directly in the show by Professor Frink, the local Springfield Scientist.
examples from the show:
Bart the Genius (1/14/1990)
Bart reads a math problem out loud, and then day dreams about it.
Bart: 7:30 am an express train travelling 60 miles per hour leaves Santa Fe bound for Phoenix,
Train conductor: Ticket please!
Bart: I don't have a ticket!
Train conductor: Come with me, boy.
[ Train conductor drags Bart off, numbers circle around Bart's head]
Train conductor: We've got a stowaway, sir.
Bart: I'll Pay! How much?
[the train engineer is Martin, shoveling numbers into the engine]
Martin: Twice the fare from Tucson from Flagstaff minus two-thirds of the fare from Albuquerque to El Paso! Ha ha ha ha!
Dead Putting Society (11/15/1990)
Lisa: And I'm studying for the math fair, If I win, I'll bring home a brand new protractor.
Homer: Too bad we don't live on a farm.
Dead Putting Society (11/15/1990)
Lisa, armed with a measuring tape, helps Bart play miniature golf.
Lisa: The basis of this game seems to be simple geometry. All you have to do is hit the ball...here.
[The ball is hit, gets bounced around, and goes into the hole.]
Bart: I can't believe it. You've actually found a practical use for geometry!
Springfield (12/16/1993)
[After putting on Henry Kissinger's glasses, found in a men's room toilet]
Homer: The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side.
Man in stall: That's a right triangle, you idiot!
Homer: D'Oh!
This carries on throughout all 20 years that the show has been produced, and it covers many topics from the basics of mathematics, 2+2=4, in one show to talking about the Pythagorean Theorem and 3 dimensional space. The Simpsons is intended for a more mature audience and should not been shown to younger children without adult supervision. It contains many inside jokes and academic content that is directed at an older audience
(This information was written with the help of Simpsons Math http://www.mathsci.appstate.edu/~sjg/simpsonsmath/)
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