Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / MadMathematician

Go To

1[[quoteright:300:[[Film/ABeautifulMind https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beautiful_mind_0.jpg]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:300:You know chalkboards exist, right, John?]]
3
4-> ''Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination.''
5-->-- '''Creator/GKChesterton''', ''Orthodoxy''
6
7Clearly, [[WritersCannotDoMath many writers]] (and viewers) [[EverybodyHatesMathematics fear and dread mathematics]]. On rare occasion, a character is found who possesses a defining trait of having delved deeply into the study of profound [[UsefulNotes/{{mathematics}} mathematical]] knowledge. These characters are, as a rule, insane. It is not necessarily clear whether [[GoodWithNumbers advanced number theory]] is itself [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow destructive to sanity]] (as with some forms of FormulaicMagic), or whether [[PowerBornOfMadness the insane are drawn to math]]; nonetheless, the correlation seems to exist.
8
9Many Mad Mathematicians will have a RoomFullOfCrazy with math equations. They may use their mathematical knowledge for AwesomenessByAnalysis or, if they're good enough, PrescienceByAnalysis.
10
11See also MadScientist, NumberObsession, CrazyPeoplePlayChess, and CalculusIsArcaneKnowledge.
12
13[[noreallife]]
14----
15!!Examples:
16
17[[foldercontrol]]
18
19[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
20* Moriaki-sensei from ''Manga/AndYetTheTownMoves'' looks like your average SternTeacher at first, but he takes Mathematics ''way'' too seriously.
21* ''Manga/GambleFish''[='=]s [[TheHeavy Heavy]] Abandi is revealed to be one of these. In specific, he believes to discover a message from God itself within his mathematics. He tests whether or not he should share his discovery with anyone by suicidal exploits in hopes of testing whether or not God would protect him, ultimately leading to his StartOfDarkness when he's electrocuted and believes he came BackFromTheDead.
22* The third season has ''Anime/HellGirl'' has one of the villains of the week, Mizuragi Shogo, a mathematician who is obsessed with Hell because the Hell Girl sent his mother to Hell. Eventually, he was able to prove the existence of Hell and used the knowledge to create a device to keep Ai's minions away he could meet her on his own terms. To that end, he used hypnosis to artificially create a grudge against Tsugumi, who by that point has given up on trying to stop Ai from taking souls and is resigned to her fate. Shogo, Ai, Ai's minions and Tsugumi all get a resounding YoureInsane from Yuzuki. Eventually, Shogo's assistant banishes him to Hell so that several children who had been orphaned by Shogo's earlier inventions wouldn't make the contract at the cost of their own souls.
23* While he's not crazy in the usual sense, Daichi/Bastion Misawa of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' does snap a bit more... strangely... during the White Society arc in season 2. The way he snaps out of it [[BrainBleach ain't pretty]]. His going insane was canonically because [[SmallNameBigEgo people weren't worshiping him as the brightest guy around anymore]], but the snap back (which involved stripping, and then racing around in his birthday suit) was indeed, induced by math. As a side note, before the FreakOut he was the proud owner of a RoomFullOfCrazy that he regularly repainted just so he could cover the walls with formulas all over again.
24[[/folder]]
25
26[[folder:Comic Books]]
27* Creator/DCComics:
28** ComicBook/GreenLantern and [[StarfishAliens sentient mathematical progression]] Dkrtzy RRR was discovered by mad mathematician Timph Rye, who sought to prove that willpower could be derived formulaically. Dkrtzy RRR is itself of suspect mental stability; its tendency to corrode the minds of its enemies from the inside is... controversial among the ranks of the Corps.
29** GodOfEvil Darkseid's primary goal in life is solving the Anti-Life Equation, a FormulaicMagic BrownNote that acts as mathematical [[HopeCrusher proof that life is meaningless]] and would allow him to turn all of existence into a WorldOfSilence. In ''Saga of the ComicBook/SwampThing'' he's seen struggling in front of a board filled with religious and mathematical symbols.
30* ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'': [[ClockKing The Mad Thinker]] is a big brain mathemagician as well. He once managed to calculate how long it would take the Fantastic Four to invade an enemy fortress, take out the enemies, and escape, and had ''planted a bomb to go off exactly as they had left the building'' blowing up their mutual enemy but not the Four. How on Earth did he do that? 10 minutes to go in, factoring in the Human Torch's average temperature of 2000 celcius... carry the 2... divide by 5... leave 2 minutes for electric signals...
31* ''ComicBook/{{Logicomix}}'' (written in part by a computer scientist) features a number of RealLife examples, although the authors are always sure to point out that the study of mathematics and logic has its uses as well.
32[[/folder]]
33
34[[folder:Fan Works]]
35* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' and ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' crossover ''Fanfic/TheManyWorldsInterpretation'', by Creator/AAPessimal, sees a meeting of shining minds across worlds between Unseen University and Caltech. Sheldon Cooper proves to be a man who even the Unseen University Faculty come to view as eccentric and hard to deal with.[[note]]Sheldon gets along amazingly well with the Bursar, however, and a real meeting of minds occurs here.[[/note]] As noted below, theoretical physicians and mathematicians share a lot of common traits. These are enough to excite the appetitie of the dread, if dysfunctional, entity known on the Disc as the Shadowing Lemma, which devours the brain energies of mathematically-minded geniuses (and camels), leaving only a dribbling husk who is totally unable to interact in normal human society. [[note]][[DeadpanSnarker Leonard Hofstadter]] asks if anyone would notice any difference[[/note]]. Ponder Stibbons, assisted by HEX, has to find a way of destroying the Lemma lest one be loosed on Earth. Sheldon, unwittingly, becomes bait in a trap...
36* Hilda's incarnation in ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' litters her speech with lots of math speak, although she seems to prefer using math that a layman can easily understand. For example, [[MaleGaze when a boy glanced]] at her shorts, she said "[[MyEyesAreUpHere My eyes are 44.7º up, boy.]]"
37[[/folder]]
38
39[[folder:Films]]
40* ''Film/ABeautifulMind''. The whole movie, as well as the real person (John Nash) on whom it was based. As noted [[BunnyEarsLawyer elsewhere]], while the movie depicted his bout with schizophrenia, he wasn't exactly 'normal' before or after either.
41* ''Film/{{Pi}}''. Max Cohen lives like a hermit, plagued by migraines and social anxiety as he dives into the mathematical heart of the universe. The closer he gets to [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow the ultimate answer]], the more insane he becomes. The only way he can achieve peace is to [[spoiler:physically burrow out his mathematical ability by trepanning himself with a power drill]].
42* ''Theatre/{{Proof}}''. Entire movie (and, earlier, stage play) about a woman obsessed with the idea that she inherited both her father's mental illness and math abilities.
43* [[EnsembleDarkhorse John Givings]] from ''Film/RevolutionaryRoad''. After a mental breakdown, he's placed in the care of his parents. At first, he praises and admires the Wheelers for their desire to have something more out of life, rather than a conformist suburban existence. After they've abandoned these plans, he [[ClusterFBomb calls them out on their hypocrisy]].
44* ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'' conflates Professor Moriarty's legitimate mathematical research with his criminal career, especially if you read any of the articles on [[https://www.siam.org/pdf/news/1966.pdf the actual (non-evil) mathematicians]] the filmmakers consulted with in order to design his personal financial code.
45[[/folder]]
46
47[[folder:Literature]]
48* Sigismund Arbuthnot, “the mad maths master,” is a character in the ''Literature/{{Molesworth}}'' stories. However, he appears simply to be a somewhat eccentric teacher whose subject happens to be maths.
49* Sir Austin Cardynge in the Literature/{{Lensman}} books, who in this respect can outthink even the superman Second Stage Lensmen (but not Arisians). We are told that he can actually think in the symbology of higher mathematics.
50* In the Franchise/SherlockHolmes canon, Professor Moriarty is described as having a background in mathematics, although that doesn't really figure into his criminal career. (Some of the many adaptations place more emphasis on it, though.)
51* John Givings from ''Literature/RevolutionaryRoad'' (see above).
52* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
53** Mavolio Bent from ''Literature/MakingMoney'', a man who could see the answer to an equation just by looking at it. Considers making a mistake to be the worst of sins one could ever do. Absolutely abhors all things he considers silly, which includes most things. [[spoiler: Once strangled a professional assassin to death with a humorous pink elephant made of balloons when his tenuous hold on reality went bye-bye and he embraced his clown heritage.]]
54** A more harmless example is the TalkativeLoon Bursar of Unseen University. Mad as a spoon (in recent years, he's gotten better, mostly because the university staff hit upon the idea of using medication to have him hallucinate he was sane, the same way most people do), but can be calmed by asking him a complicated mathematical question, which he can figure out in about a second.
55*** Or rather, asking him the mathematical question can be used as an effective gauge of his health; it won't necessarily calm him down, but, if you consider that he's ''a'' bursar as well as being ''The'' Bursar, making sure he can actually do his job is pretty much the only thing you can really ask of him. Unfortunately, in ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld'' he discovered ''advanced'' mathematics, and as of ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'' it's up to Ponder Stibbons to make sure things add up because the Bursar now "regards the decimal point as a nuisance".
56* In Literature/{{Dragaera}}, the Dragaerans of the House of the Athyra who study pure logic and philosophy tend to become cold and evil, driven to pursue their studies at the expense of anything and anyone.
57* The math monks of ''Literature/{{Anathem}}'' probably aren't mad, but their very sequestered lifestyle gets them pretty close. Of course, many in the outside world believe they actually are this trope. In the past, several Centenarian "math monks" actually did go mad, resulting in the coining of the slang term "to go Hundred", meaning "to go mad".
58* Creator/HPLovecraft was never outright against mathematics, but it did seem to have some unfortunate consequences for his characters. For what is probably the most obvious example, in "Literature/TheDreamsInTheWitchHouse" a brilliant young mathematician moves into said house precisely ''because'' of hints that its most infamous former inhabitant of over two hundred years ago might have possessed certain mathematical knowledge -- notably about [[AlienGeometries the geometry of space and time]] -- not yet actually (re)discovered by modern science. [[CuriosityIsACrapshoot It does not end well]], partly because it turns out that [[spoiler:said witch is actually still alive and still as nasty as ever]].
59* In ''Literature/DiamondDogs'', the explorers of a BigDumbObject in a uninhabited system have been progressively replacing most of their body and augmenting their minds in order to pass the lethal [[OnlySmartPeopleMayPass mathematical and astrophysical tests]] to find out what lies in the center of the object. By the end of the novella, the explorers are [[BrainInAJar full-body prosthetic]] dog-like creatures enshrouded in diamond armor, which are completely incapable of functioning in society due to their augments and mathematical oriented minds. The cyborg MadScientist who augmented proceeded to [[DrivenToSuicide take himself apart]] piece by piece while the explorers were in the object to make sure that he couldn't undo his 'greatest work'
60* In ''Literature/MurderousMaths'', the pure mathematicians are affectionately portrayed as rather eccentric, to put it mildly. [[ArchNemesis Professor Fiendish]] is more seriously insane, although he seems to be more of a MadScientist with a focus on maths.
61* In John French’s ''Literature/ThousandSons'' novels, the Chaos sorcerer Ignis is obsessed with “the numerology of destruction”. He perceives mathematical ratios and formulas in ''everything'', from a person’s posture, to the firing of a warship’s guns, to the shifting tides of the Warp. These formulas blend into a vast, constantly-changing pattern which allows him to [[PrescienceByAnalysis predict outcomes]] with great ([[DidntSeeThatComing but not perfect]]) accuracy, precisely orchestrate magical rituals on a grand scale, and more. He also has difficulty understanding the emotions of others and prefers the company of robots to people.
62* ''Literature/InCryptid'': All Johrlac are GoodWithNumbers as one of their [[SpeciesOfHats species hats]], but most of them are pretty sane (albeit with [[TheSociopath sociopathic]]/BlueAndOrangeMorality). When [[TokenHeroicOrc Sarah]] [[spoiler:is forced into an EvolutionPowerUp that turns her into an UnstablePoweredWoman]], she starts writing equations everywhere (including in her own MentalWorld) and acting more erratically as [[spoiler:the [[FormulaicMagic cosmic equation]] forces its way into more and more of her mind, and would have eventually caused [[MySkullRunnethOver her mind to melt]] if she hadn't been able to spread it out over hundreds of other minds]].
63* ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'' being about cryptographers, naturally has those. Lawrence Waterhouse is a fine example of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} mathematical genius who genuinely misses the point of many social conventions and approaches the world overly analytically (he gets derailed into really advanced physics while solving a boring TrainProblem, because he thinks it can't be that simple). His commanding officer in [=HYPO=] station, who is [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed in no way, shape or form]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Rochefort Joseph Rochefort]], is explicitly stated to have been a well-adjusted man until he began decyphering secret messages, which caused him to GoMadFromTheRevelation and start using drugs just to cope. Lawrence's grandson, Randy, is a fairly normal computer geek, although a large part of his social circle being composed of people who wouldn't know an integral if it bit them in the ass, so to them he does come out as weird.
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
67* The client in the ''Series/BurnNotice'' episode "Signals and Codes" is a cryptanalytic genius who's uncovered a conspiracy to sell government secrets, but he believes it's [[TheSchizophreniaConspiracy a conspiracy by evil aliens against good aliens who send him messages on beams of light]]. He's a schizophrenic who's been in and out of psych wards for years. He eventually gets a job and meds.
68* Winifred Burkle in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' was a gifted young physicist who got trapped in AnotherDimension (more specifically, a demon-ruled, medieval-level CrapsackWorld where humans are treated like cattle) for five years. She quickly recovered and became one of the main characters after returning with the heroes to Los Angeles, but when they first met her she'd taken to [[RoomFullOfCrazy scribbling equations on cave walls...]]
69-->'''Angel''': Fred here might be able to help us with that. She knows a lot about portals.
70-->'''Fred''': Not a lot. The trionic speechcraft formulation/modification has to alter the dynamic-reality sphere. Lutzbalm predicted it at Zurich in '89. Laughed him off the stage, although this slavery and degradation's no laughing matter. (suddenly laughs insanely for a minute and then abruptly stops) It's no Crug-grain and Kalla berry breakfast alright.
71-->'''Angel''': ...she's been here a while.
72** After rescuing her, she continued to write on her bedroom walls for a while. A couple years later she's running a lab where she starts writing equations on windows. The team thought she relapsed. She simply ran out of white board space.
73* In the sitcom ''Committed'', this is a DefiedTrope for Nate, who comes from a family of geniuses who tend to eventually go insane. Though he studied physics at Yale, he works in a used record store in an effort to avoid his relatives' fate. It's only partially successful.
74* The Doctor from ''Series/DoctorWho'', to some extent. According to [[http://tardis.wikia.com The DW Wiki]], the Time Lords used rather scary mathematics to grow [=TARDISes=], among other things. The Doctor is no exception to this.
75-->"Any number that reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and continue iterating it until it yields 1 is a happy number, any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is both happy and prime. Now ''type it in''! I dunno, talk about dumbing down. Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?"
76** Excess math would certainly account for The Doctor's eccentric nature, not that he needs another excuse.
77* The unsub in the ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode "Derailed" had to take a few years off from his groundbreaking work on M-theory to be involuntarily committed due to his violent schizophrenia.
78* Cassandra in ''Series/TheLibrarians2014'' has extreme mathematical abilities (she can calculate in ''seven'' dimensions in her head) and synesthesia which in combination can make her constantly repeat certain phrases or pass out under the load of too much information. Thankfully, she prefers to channel those talents into saving the world; When the [[ArtifactOfDoom Apple of Discord]] removed her morals, she nearly caused a chain of nuclear meltdowns ''for fun.''
79* Ned's math teacher in ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' is shown to be more than a little bit off her rocker. She uses a lot of the MadScientist tropes as well.
80* Jennifer Goines in the ''Series/TwelveMonkeys'' TV series is a mathematical genius whom the main character Cole first meets when both of them are patients in the same closed psych ward for the criminally insane. Based on everything she does during the series, she was put there for a good reason.
81* Sheldon Cooper in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' is a theoretical physicist rather than a pure mathematician. However, the two disciplines are closely related and as Sheldon demonstrates, their practitioners share a lot of the same (un)common quirks and eccentricities, right down to the multiple whiteboards full of symbols impenetrable to the outsider.
82[[/folder]]
83
84[[folder:Music]]
85* Music/DoctorSteel is a mad scientist who sings about the ''Fibonacci Sequence''.
86* Music/JonathanCoulton is apparently of the opinion that now and again, a great mathematician will come along and actually ''decrease'' the madness of the field by solving or figuring out something that had been flummoxing his compatriots, if the first verse of the song ''Mandlebrot Set'' is anything to go by.
87-->"Pathological monsters!" cried the terrified mathematician\
88Every one of them is a splinter in my eye\
89I hate the Peano Space and the Koch Curve, I fear the Cantor Ternary Set\
90And the Sierpinski Gasket makes me want to cry\
91And a million miles away, a butterfly flapped its wings\
92On a cold November day, a man named Benoit Mandelbrot was born
93[[/folder]]
94
95[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
96* The most infamous depiction of this trope comes from Wrestling/ScottSteiner, during his [[Wrestling/TotalNonstopAction TNA]] run where he educates "[[Wrestling/SamoaJoe Señor Joe]]" on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msDuNZyYAIQ how he has a 141 2/3% chance of losing to him]] at the 2008 TNA Sacrifice PPV. The entire promo is quite the listen (see Quotes page), especially since Steiner (who in RealLife has a degree in Mathematical Statistics) was in his [[Main/{{Angrish}} default]] Main/LargeHam mode.
97** This later gets a ShoutOut at Wrestling/{{WWENXT}}, courtesy of Bron Breakker (who actually is Scott's real-life nephew):
98---> '''Breakker:''' ''(To [=JD McDonagh=])'' You know what, I'll help you out: I'm the NXT Champion... ''(Points back to [=McDonagh=])'' You're the Number One contender... ''(then points to Ilja Dragunov)'' You never lost your Championship... So, the way I see it if my math is correct, which it always is... ''(Faces [=McDonagh=])'' You have '''''a 33 and a third percent chance of winning!'''''
99** Then in the September 13, 2023 episode of ''[[Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling AEW Dynamite]]'', Wrestling/{{MJF}} quotes the infamous promo nearly word-for-word, prior to the Grand Slam final qualifier match between Wrestling/RoderickStrong and Wrestling/SamoaJoe.
100[[/folder]]
101
102[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
103* In ''TabletopGame/{{Mysterium}}'', one of the psychics is this: he has a Ph.D in math and specializes in communing with the restless dead through numerology, having discovered that this was possible after his brother died in UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne.
104[[/folder]]
105
106[[folder:Video Games]]
107* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' has Sho Minamimoto, who shouts trigonometric functions when attacking, gives out missions like "Beat the bosses of 2.2360679's 0 + 5. t = 60 min."[[note]]The game is about a "Reaper's Game" where you try to win back your right to exist through missions assigned by the PunchClockVillain who supervises the contest (Sho being the second one to get the job). This particular mission means you have to beat two minibosses in areas 0 and 5 of Route 5 (2.2360679 being the square root of 5), which are the scramble crossing and the Udagawa district, respectively.[[/note]], can recite a MouthfulOfPi and is also a complete psychopath. He's still like this [[VideoGame/NEOTheWorldEndsWithYou three years later]].
108* The game ''PiRSquared'' has the ExcusePlot that you're a mathematician who's gone inside his own mind to try and collect various mathematical formulas and avoid going insane.
109* The ''[[VideoGame/BioShock2 BioShock 2]]'' DLC Minerva's Den has Reed Wahl, the co-inventor of the supercomputer known as The Thinker whose [[PsychoSerum splicing induced madness]] manifested in a delusion of the existence of a 'predictive equation' that would allow him to see the future, the "discovery" of which depended on The Thinker. The titular Minerva's Den is [[RoomFullOfCrazy covered in numbers and algebraic symbols in paint, chalk and blood from dozens of corpses, all presumably Wahl's work]]. Wahl also has the habit of stating that pretty much all of Sigma's actions (including ''dying'') have either been foreseen by the Thinker or that they're "slightly behind schedule".
110-->'''Wahl''': [[MeaningfulName Sigma]] [[DeadlyEuphemism must be removed from the equation.]]
111* N from ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' shows tendencies towards this. He adores functions and formulas, carries a Menger Sponge accessory, and he's trying to "solve the equation to change the world". His OneLetterName even fits, since "n" is frequently used as a variable in math equations. However, he's not so much insane as he is... [[WellIntentionedExtremist horribly misguided]], [[spoiler: a sheltered and abused ManChild TykeBomb designed to destroy Unova's political system so his TreacherousAdvisor can take over]], and convinced that HumansAreBastards.
112* ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}'' has ThemeNaming in the attacks of all characters and most enemies. Guess what the attacks of the most powerful non-boss enemies, the [[DemonicSpiders Secretaries]], are named after. The Zone 3 Secretaries ''Vertical Limit'' is easily the hardest-hitting attack in the game. The same Zone 3 Secretaries can also ''Divide By Zero'', which doesn't cause a RealityBreakingParadox [[spoiler:(maybe because reality is already broken)]] but can inflict some nasty status conditions.
113* Kazuaki from ''VisualNovel/{{Hatoful Boyfriend}}'' is a narcoleptic mathematician. [[spoiler:And his calm exterior is a complete front - he's been mad with grief and desire for revenge ever since the death of his brother.]]
114* Dive from ''VideoGame/{{Divekick}}'' dabbles in this, applying his talent for calculating angles [[MartialArtsAndCrafts to his divekicking]], and the majority of his win and defeat quotes being math-related.
115[[/folder]]
116
117[[folder:Western Animation]]
118* In one episode, ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' deals with a math-themed villain known as The Mathster. She [[LamePunReaction quickly grew tired]] of his [[HurricaneOfPuns many, many math jokes]]. [[spoiler:Fittingly, he gets defeated by none other than [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Ron's dad]], a professional actuary with the mathematical skills to beat the Mathster at his own game.]]
119* An [[AdBumpers Ad Bumper]] of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' has Major Glory fighting the Evil Math-Magician with "Justice Fruit Pies, the delicious treat you'd have to be crazy to hate".
120* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons", a magical "infinity-sided die" brings to life the eponymous tabletop game's flagship villain, the mighty math-wizard Probabilitor the Annoying.
121* A recurring segment on Creator/{{HBO}}'s ''WesternAnimation/{{Crashbox}}'' was "Psycho Math", hosted by a robot guy whose head would occasionally explode with numerals flying out of the top.
122[[/folder]]
123
124----
125Attention, you factoring Hectopascals! [[VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou (It's x 2)DIE!!]]

Top