Thursday, August 22, 2013

Doesn't Add Up! Or Divide, for That Matter

First of all, I don't have OCD tendencies. I do, however, appreciate the elegance and beauty of mathematical expressions. The thing I really love about math is that there is only one correct answer! There is no discussion or touchy-feely exchange of ideas, there is the correct answer and all the others are thrown out. This would be my pragmatic side speaking. She's all about nondiplomacy and my-way-or-the-highway thinking. So here's the problem. In the tv series Dollhouse, the actives are given names from the NATO phonetic alphabet. They are grouped in fives, like in the sleeping pods in the photo. The thing is, there are 26 letters to the alphabet that correspond to 26 names, like Echo and Victor and Sierra. Twenty-six is not divisible by five! Which would mean that there is one podless active wandering about with no place to sleep! Unless they only have 25 or fewer at any given time due to the fact that Xray and Hotel and Uniform are really kind of dumb names that even a basically mindless active might object to due to the lameness and uncoolness of it all. Of course, maybe the full contingent of 26 minus the rogue Alpha is how they are making it work at this point. I'll get back to you with my final arithmatical answer when I have completed the series. I repeat, twenty-six is not divisible by five!

3 comments:

D said...

It is, of course, entirely possible that they have sleeping arrangements other than the one pictured. There could be a few different layouts to accommodate additional Dolls. I can't remember what we ultimately get shown inside the Dollhouse regarding that - it's been too long.

AndiBean said...

To my recollection, they always seemed to be recruiting new Dolls when one or another would either be "released" or sent to the Attic. Therefore, no worries about sleeping arrangements! But that might just be my brain taking the easy way out ;) I like your idea about the Dolls who, despite being blank slates, still would object to sillier/more boring names. "But...if I am Hotel, how could I be my best??"

Bellona of Avalon said...

I was merely expressing my preoccupation with mathematical accuracy. I think this may stem from being one of 4 children. It was always so easy to divide pretty much anything to be shared into four equal parts. I wondered as a child how families with 3 or 5 kids managed such things.

Always enjoy the feedback!

Funny how hotels have lots of empty rooms upstairs...