MathFiction: The Simpsons: Girls Just Want to Have Sums (Matt Selman)

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

...
The Simpsons: Girls Just Want to Have Sums (2006)

Matt Selman
...

In this episode from the 17th season of the hit cartoon The Simpsons, the principal of Bart and Lisa's school makes a sexist comment (clearly a reference to the controversial comments from Harvard President Larry Summers about a year ago) which leads to the school being divided into separate programs by gender. Lisa is upset at the poor quality of education received by the girls and so masquerades as a boy so as to be able to attend their math classes.

For more information, check out Sarah Greenwald's Site and this Wikipedia entry.

Also, be sure to check out the description of other math on The Simpsons here on the Mathematical Fiction homepage and at Sarah's SimpsonsMath page.

Contributed by Paige DeBenedittis

I took your Math in Fiction class Spring of 2005 and my mother still sends me emails whenever she sees a new book/movie/etc dealing with math in fiction. When I started your class and explained the idea to her, she paused and said, "I just read a book where this young girl saves everyone by knowing this special number. Do you know it?" I asked her what it was and she starting saying, " 1, 1, 2, 3..." And I picked up with "5, 8, 13..." She flipped out. Haha. But then I explained the Fibonacci sequence and she's been hooked ever since.

Anyways she saw this new book advertised and I checked your website and didn't see anything on it. I thought it was pretty cool so I wanted to send you an email about it: The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh.

More information about this work can be found at www.mathsci.appstate.edu.
(Note: This is just one work of mathematical fiction from the list. To see the entire list or to see more works of mathematical fiction, return to the Homepage.)

Works Similar to The Simpsons: Girls Just Want to Have Sums

According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:

Recess (Episode: A Genius Among Us) by Brian Hamill
Family Ties (Episode: My Tutor) by Jace Richdale (Screenplay) / Sam Weisman (Director)
Futurama (Episode: The Prisoner of Benda) by Ken Keeler (writer) / Stephen Sandoval (director)
Simpsons (Episode: Homer³) by David X. Cohen (writer) / Bob Anderson (director)
Futurama (Episode: 2-D Blacktop) by Michael Rowe (writer) / Raymie Muzquiz (director)
Summer Wars by Mamoru Hosoda (Director)
Sophie's Diary by Dora Musielak
The Brady Kids (Episode: It's All Greek to Me) by Marc Richards (screenwriter) / Marc Richards (director)
G103 by Oliver Tearne (director)
The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells (Episode: The Truth about Pyecraft) by Chris Harrald (Script) / Clive Exton (Script) / Herbert George Wells (story)

Ratings for The Simpsons: Girls Just Want to Have Sums:

Ratings

Have you seen/read this work of mathematical fiction? Then click here to enter your own votes on its mathematical content and literary quality or send me comments to post on this Webpage.

Mathematical Content:
3/5 (1 votes)

Literary Quality:
4/5 (1 votes)

Categories:

Genre	Humorous,
Motif	Academia, Female Mathematicians, Math Education,
Topic
Medium	Television Series or Episode,

Home All New Browse Search About

Where are the new works of mathematical fiction?: As you can see from this chronological listing, this database includes many works of mathematical fiction for each year from 1990 to 2025. Strangely, only two are listed for 2026, so far. Either less mathematical fiction is being published than in previous years or I'm just having more trouble finding it. If you know of any works of fiction that should be added to this list, especially recently published ones, please let me know. (Keep in mind that I do not include self-published works or children's fiction that just covers elementary mathematical concepts.) Thanks!

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)