Between Series, an Actress Became a Superstar (in Math)

The New York Times (via National Review's The Corner) ^ | 07/19/2005 | Kenneth Chang

[GreenLanternCorps]

On her Web site, Danica McKellar, the actress best known as Winnie Cooper on the television series "The Wonder Years," takes on questions that require more than a moment's thought to answer.

"If it takes Sam six minutes to wash a car by himself," one fan asked recently, "and it takes Brian eight minutes to wash a car by himself, how long will it take them to wash a car together?"

"This is a 'rates' problem," Ms. McKellar wrote in reply. "The key is to think about each of their 'car washing rates' and not the 'time' it takes them."

Ms. McKellar, now a semiregular on "The West Wing" playing a White House speechwriter, Elsie Snuffin, is probably the only person on prime-time television who moonlights as a cyberspace math tutor.

Her mathematics knowledge extends well beyond calculus. As a math major at the University of California, Los Angeles, she also took more esoteric classes, the ones with names like "complex analysis" and "real analysis," and she pondered making a career move to professional mathematician.

"I love that stuff," Ms. McKellar said last month during a visit to Manhattan after a play-reading in the Hamptons. Her conversation was peppered with terminology like "epsilons" and "limsups" (pronounced "lim soups").

"I love continuous functions and proving if functions are continuous or not," she said.

She may also be the only actress, now or ever, to prove a new mathematical theorem, one that bears her name. Certainly, she is the only theorem prover who appears wearing black lingerie in the July issue of Stuff magazine. Even in that interview, she mentioned math.

[FreedomCalls]

The actress Hedy Lamarr patented (patent number 2,292,387) spread spectrum communications in 1941.

[tet68]

try to do at least one problem a day, or a dozen if there is time, or even more when the problems are really simple. You will find you can handle numbers a lot better as you work the problems. Then get a good, thick analytical geometry and calculus book and repeat. Every problem in the book. That will pretty much do it. Then DiffEq, real analysis, linear, complex analysis, will take some work but won't be all that bad. Statistics will still be highly annoying. Then, you're done and can get into Riemannian space and cosmology if you like.


So all that math will make you a better cosmetologist?

[RightWhale]

Actually, I have noticed that people who advance themselves extensively in mathematics prefer neat work over neat appearance.

[snarks_when_bored]

After seeing her picture, I was suddenly overcome with thoughts of "piece-wise" continuity.

(laugh) And I guess we should eschew talk of a ring of prime characteristic.

[longshadow]

(laugh) And I guess we should eschew talk of a ring of prime characteristic.

Let's just say I'd really like to play a one-on-one game of "hide the eigen-vector" with her....

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

"I didn't brow beat you when you put up that thread about how cute you though Josh Savino was."

Just because I like to kick little nerds asses, I am not lumped in the perv category with you, pally.

[rabidralph]

Yep, math major.

[RightWingAtheist]

It's pretty disappointing how all the kids on that show turned out so well. It must be Ben Stein's fault.

[Keith in Iowa]

She could apply my tagline... :)

[RightWingAtheist]

That settles it. I want to see her with Lisa Randall in special "Women of Science" issue of Playboy.

[RightOnline]

For some strange reason, that picture makes me think of.............multiplying.............

[gopwinsin04]

Indeed!

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

She may also be the only actress, now or ever, to prove a new mathematical theorem, one that bears her name.

I guess you missed that part.

By the way, what mathematical theorems have YOU proved lately?

[bummerdude]

Maybe hundreds, but I'm not a celebrity, so you'll never know, will you?

Or maybe you're just mad that I goofed on your fantasy girl, hoping she might read this and become your friend.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

You sound like someone with psychological problems.

[bummerdude]

You sound like someone with a really good sense of humor.
I'm sure Winnie will go for that.