Episodes Mathematical And Scientific Inaccuracies Of The Big Bang Theory

[Tensor]

Not mathematical or scientific but The Tangerine Factor and The Bad Fish Paradigm have just been on E4 and the continuity and editing are shocking. Penny walks out for her date with Leonard barefoot in the first and, in the laundry scene in the latter, Sheldon's blue T-shirt is folded twice and suddenly turns into a pair of socks on his folding board halfway through.

However, it did occur to me that, in both these episodes, Penny seeks out Sheldon's advice, so not sure why some posters are complaining about this happening in Season 8, she's always run things past him, it's nothing new or out of the ordinary.

 

I think the complaints about it now (at least mine, ) are that she is asking him questions about career, etc, without seeing her talk to her fiancé about the issue.  Leonard was not her fiancé at the time (and she was asking Sheldon about Leonard).  

[ATOB]

I think the complaints about it now (at least mine, ) are that she is asking him questions about career, etc, without seeing her talk to her fiancé about the issue.  Leonard was not her fiancé at the time (and she was asking Sheldon about Leonard).

Yes, both the examples I gave were concerning Leonard. I think it's all the talk about it on here recently that made me notice it because I haven't before now.

[djsurrey]

But the point is that it's never covered up that he made this mistakes.

So I think it's a failure of the creator.

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Never? Not true. 

 

 

 

Or the bird which flies in his apartment isn't determined correctly, also some bug they are talking about in another episode.

 

I don't know about the bird but I believe when you say "bug" you mean the cricket that he misidentified. And yes Sheldon lost that bet and had to give Howard one of his beloved comic books from his collection.

[Tensor]

Never? Not true. 

 

 

I don't know about the bird 

 

In The Ornithnophobia Diffusion, he identified the bird as a Blue Jay, its not.  Although your point still stands, that they do point out his errors from time to time.   

[phantagrae]

In The Ornithnophobia Diffusion, he identified the bird as a Blue Jay, its not.  Although your point still stands, that they do point out his errors from time to time.

If it's not a bluejay, then what is it? It looks like a bluejay to me--or maybe a mountain jay, which is a type of bluejay. We have bluejays here, and yes, they look different.

But surely if tptb were able to get a certain kind of bird to use on the show, they would change the dialog to fit the bird. Why would they deliberately misidentify the bird. I'm sure the bird trainer knows what kind of bird he has.

I think that it might have been just simpler to have him call it a bluejay than to use a more complicated name for it. Reminds me of how people here tend to call cardinals "redbirds".

[Irene]

It's a magpie-jay. Not a bluejay. Where I live, magpies are common, and bluejays reasonably so too, but the bird in the episode had me stumped so I looked it up. I can see where the name comes from, as it resembles the magpie and bluejay in various ways.

But bottom line--they got the species wrong on that one.

[lennyx3]

It's a Black-throated magpie jay, Calocitta colliei . The bluejay is the Cyanocitta cristata.

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[Tensor]

If it's not a bluejay, then what is it? It looks like a bluejay to me--or maybe a mountain jay, which is a type of bluejay. We have bluejays here, and yes, they look different.

But surely if tptb were able to get a certain kind of bird to use on the show, they would change the dialog to fit the bird. Why would they deliberately misidentify the bird. I'm sure the bird trainer knows what kind of bird he has.

I think that it might have been just simpler to have him call it a bluejay than to use a more complicated name for it. Reminds me of how people here tend to call cardinals "redbirds".

 

I know SCDNW

[djsurrey]

If it's not a bluejay, then what is it? It looks like a bluejay to me--or maybe a mountain jay, which is a type of bluejay. We have bluejays here, and yes, they look different.

But surely if tptb were able to get a certain kind of bird to use on the show, they would change the dialog to fit the bird. Why would they deliberately misidentify the bird. I'm sure the bird trainer knows what kind of bird he has.

I think that it might have been just simpler to have him call it a bluejay than to use a more complicated name for it. Reminds me of how people here tend to call cardinals "redbirds".

 

I could be they just really did not care as it was not physics.

[lennyx3]

Jep, I do think so....

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The simple explanation is that Sheldon is overly self confident and overly dismissive of others. Sheldon takes it to an extreme and is dismissive of most feedback and correction.

Indeed.

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[phantagrae]

I could be they just really did not care as it was not physics.

 

I think it was probably a combination of what kind of trained bird they had available and the easiest, more recognizable name.

 

I think it would have been very clumsy for him to have said, "black-throated magpie jay", rather than "bluejay".

 

And it was a dang beautiful bird, no matter what it was.

 

I think this is the same reason they had Leonard only recently getting around to reading the Harry Potter books.  You would think, from the ways the guys talk, that he would have at least seen the movies, if he hadn't read the books, so he would have already knows all that spoiler info.

 

But they had to choose a book series that the audience would recognize and understand what the spoilers would be.  And maybe it had to do with the rights to mention bits of the story.

Still, it was more expedient for the writers to choose the HP books than to try to come up with some random book Leonard would not have read, where the supposed spoilers wouldn't be recognizable to the audience.

 

Similarly, I would bet that the majority of viewers wouldn't know there was any such thing as a magpie jay.  I've seen magpies and bluejays and mountain bluejays, but I'd never seen a bird quite like the one in the ep.  Still, it looked enough like a bluejay that I didn't care one way or the other.

[djsurrey]

Yes that all makes sense I think. (I'm refraining from saying that's what I said because I certainly was not thinking about the HP bit).

[lennyx3]

I just expected more correctness from Sheldon.

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[djsurrey]

I just expected more correctness from Sheldon.

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Really. Back in 1.05 almost at the beginning of the series...

 

 

Leonard (entering): Hey, what’s the matter?

Sheldon: My equations, someone’s tampered with my equations.

Leonard: Are you sure?

Sheldon: Of course I’m sure. Look at the beta-function of quantum chrono-dynamics, the sign’s been changed.

Leonard: Oh yeah. But doesn’t that fix the problem you’ve been having?

Sheldon: Are you insane? Are you out of your mind? Are you…. hey look, that fixes the problem I’ve been having.

Lesley (entering): You’re welcome.

Sheldon: You did this?

Lesley: Yeah, I noticed it when I got up to get a glass of water, so I fixed it, now you can show that quarks are asymptotically free at high energies. Pretty cool, huh?

Sheldon: Cool?

Lesley: Listen, I got to hit the lab. Thanks for a great night.

Leonard: Thank you, I’ll see you at work.

Sheldon: Uh-duh, hold on, hold on!

Lesley: What?

Sheldon: Who told you you could touch my board?

Lesley: No-one.

Sheldon: I don’t come into your house and touch your board.

Lesley: There are no incorrect equations on my board.

Sheldon: Oh, that is so… so…

Lesley: I’m sorry, I’ve got to run, if you come up with an adjective, text me. (Leaves).

Sheldon: Inconsiderate, that is the adjective, inconsiderate.

[phantagrae]

I just expected more correctness from Sheldon.

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But Sheldon can only say what the writers give him to say (since he doesn't exist in real life and Jim is no scientist, nor does he change the dialog), and it's ultimately the writers who decide how specific they want Sheldon to be.

So if the writers decide that it's more expedient to have him ID the bird as a bluejay, since that would be more familiar to the wider audience who are not ornithologists, then he's going to call it a bluejay.

[Tensor]

So if the writers decide that it's more expedient to have him ID the bird as a bluejay, since that would be more familiar to the wider audience who are not ornithologists, then he's going to call it a bluejay.

And he's going to be wrong.

[phantagrae]

And he's going to be wrong.

No, the writers are going to be wrong.

Within the context of the show, Sheldon will be right because in that universe it is a bluejay.

If it is a scientific inaccuracy, then it is a mistake by the writers, not because of Sheldon's lack of knowledge. He can only know what the writers give him to know.

[Tensor]

No, the writers are going to be wrong.

Yes, SCNBW.

 

Within the context of the show, Sheldon will be right because in that universe it is a bluejay.

Based on what, Sheldon calling it a Blue Jay? Why can't the writers have written it as Sheldon calling it a Blue Jay in error, because he didn't know any better?

 

If it is a scientific inaccuracy, then it is a mistake by the writers,

So, when Sheldon made that error by a factor of 10,000, that was the writers being wrong?

 

not because of Sheldon's lack of knowledge. He can only know what the writers give him to know.

You mean when Sheldon was wrong with his equations and Leslie corrected him, it was the writers being wrong, not Sheldon? Then why didn't Leslie's correct the writers, instead of Sheldon? Or in that universe do the laws of physics operate differently and Sheldon didn't really make the mistake, Leslie did? It appears you're saying that the Character of Sheldon can never be written making a mistake, it's only the writers making a mistake.

[mirs1]

I think that whenever the plot involves sheldon being wrong the writers let us know, like in the bet with Howard about the cricket or the discussion with Leslie or the error for the new element. If they don't correct him, in my opinion is writers mistake (they don't really know they are wrong) or they choose on purpose to be inaccurate for some reasons. For example sometimes Sheldon says latin words in the wrong way (they don't sound like that in latin) but since nobody corrects him (Howard at least si supposed to know latin) i assume it is something done on purpose to make latin sounding more like English for the audience (i can see the difference because i'm italian and we usually study latin in high school....otherwise i could not see any difference....)

Edited June 11, 2015 by mirs1

[lennyx3]

I think that whenever the plot involves sheldon being wrong the writers let us know, like in the bet with Howard about the cricket or the discussion with Leslie or the error for the new element. If they don't correct him, in my opinion is writers mistake (they don't really know they are wrong) or they choose on purpose to be inaccurate for some reasons

Yep and I don't like that.

[djsurrey]

I think that whenever the plot involves sheldon being wrong the writers let us know, like in the bet with Howard about the cricket or the discussion with Leslie or the error for the new element. If they don't correct him, in my opinion is writers mistake (they don't really know they are wrong) or they choose on purpose to be inaccurate for some reasons. For example sometimes Sheldon says latin words in the wrong way (they don't sound like that in latin) but since nobody corrects him (Howard at least si supposed to know latin) i assume it is something done on purpose to make latin sounding more like English for the audience (i can see the difference because i'm italian and we usually study latin in high school....otherwise i could not see any difference....)

 

Hold on. It is also possible for the writers to make a creative decision to let an error go if they feel the error is unimportant relative to other considerations.

1. In this case they have already established that Sheldon makes mistakes regarding animals. In fact unlike the cricket case I don't think he claimed any bird knowledge. He is as fallible as anyone when it comes to identifying birds.
2. What makes you think Howard knows Latin? Knowing some Latin derived nomenclature is not the same as knowing the Language. Is there really one correct way to speak Latin. I doubt it. Is there one correct way to speak English?

[Itwasdestined]

Hold on. It is also possible for the writers to make a creative decision to let an error go if they feel the error is unimportant relative to other considerations.

• In this case they have already established that Sheldon makes mistakes regarding animals. In fact unlike the cricket case I don't think he claimed any bird knowledge. He is as fallible as anyone when it comes to identifying birds.
• What makes you think Howard knows Latin? Knowing some Latin derived nomenclature is not the same as knowing the Language. Is there really one correct way to speak Latin. I doubt it. Is there one correct way to speak English?

Based on my six years of studying Classical Latin, yeah, there is SUPPOSED TO be one correct way of speaking Latin. Pronunciation changed when Latin words became English words and localized English accents changed them. In Latin, data is dARta but it has become accepted as dAYta or dARta because of localised English or US accents. In Latin -a- is never -ay- but a lot of Latin based English words have become ay, again depending on accent. I do get a bit Sheldonesque when I hear Latin words pronounced incorrectly based on my Latin education but then Latin was altered over the centuries by various groups so I move on quickly. But I'll always stick with Virgil and Cicero over the 14th century popes and Renaissance scholars! blame my Teacher Micky Boyle.

[phantagrae]

Yes, SCNBW.

 

Based on what, Sheldon calling it a Blue Jay? Why can't the writers have written it as Sheldon calling it a Blue Jay in error, because he didn't know any better?

 

So, when Sheldon made that error by a factor of 10,000, that was the writers being wrong?

 

You mean when Sheldon was wrong with his equations and Leslie corrected him, it was the writers being wrong, not Sheldon? Then why didn't Leslie's correct the writers, instead of Sheldon? Or in that universe do the laws of physics operate differently and Sheldon didn't really make the mistake, Leslie did? It appears you're saying that the Character of Sheldon can never be written making a mistake, it's only the writers making a mistake.

 

No, you're confusing the writers with Sheldon.

If in that bird episode someone had corrected Sheldon calling it a bluejay, then Sheldon would have been wrong.  In this case, everyone apparently tacitly agreed that it was a bluejay, because no one said anything different.  No one said, "No, Sheldon, that's not a bluejay..."

If they had, then that would be a moment of the writers showing that Sheldon was wrong, by having him be wrong by pointing out his error.

 

In the episode where Leslie corrected his equation, or when he made the mistake in his calculations about that element, then the writers are intentionally showing Sheldon to be wrong.

 

There's a difference between the writers glossing over something like the specifics of a bird's taxonomy for the sake of expedience in the dialog, and having them have Sheldon (or anyone else) specifically make a mistake.

 

You can tell the difference by whether or not the "error" is corrected or pointed out by others or if, as in the case of the bird, there is a tacit agreement that the thing is true or correct.

 

It's like all the stuff about the various streets or businesses the characters mention now and then.  Or the fictional aspects of the way the apartment or the show's version of Pasadena exist.

Or the show's version of The Cheesecake Factory.

 

Some things don't require pedantic details to work in context of the episode or the show in general, while other things, like Sheldon's mistake involving the element, are actual plot points and require correct details.

[Tensor]

If in that bird episode someone had corrected Sheldon calling it a bluejay, then Sheldon would have been wrong.  In this case, everyone apparently tacitly agreed that it was a bluejay, because no one said anything different.  No one said, "No, Sheldon, that's not a bluejay..."

Just because Sheldon says it's a Blue Jay, doesn't make it a blue jay. He could be calling it a Blue Jay, because he doesn't know any better. Not to mention none of the other characters, that I know of, are ornithologists. Just because they don't correct him, simply means they don't know either, or don't want to correct if they do know.

[phantagrae]

Just because Sheldon says it's a Blue Jay, doesn't make it a blue jay. He could be calling it a Blue Jay, because he doesn't know any better. Not to mention none of the other characters, that I know of, are ornithologists. Just because they don't correct him, simply means they don't know either, or don't want to correct if they do know.

 

But I think you're missing the intent of the writers.  If it's a mistake to call the bird a bluejay, then it's the writers making that mistake, not the characters.  If the writers intended for any of the characters to be mistaken in identifying the bird, then SOMEONE in the show would have had to have pointed out the mistake.

 

Maybe the writers didn't know it wasn't a bluejay, or, as I said before, didn't want to hassle with it's more complicated correct name, so they just went with "bluejay".  That doesn't make it a mistake by the characters, but an error in the writing.

It's like the old Star Wars bit when Han Solo says his ship "made the (blahblahblah) in (blahblahblah) parsecs".  That wasn't Han Solo making that mistake, like he didn't know a parsec was a unit of distance rather than a unit of speed.  That was the mistake of the writer (I don't know if it was Lucas himself or a separate screenwriter), not the character.

I'd bet Harrison Ford wouldn't have known the difference between a parsec and a lightyear, but presumably someone like Han Solo would know the difference.

Apparently the screenwriter didn't know the difference either--until a zillion fans pointed it out.

 

Likewise, the term "bluejay" may be incorrect, but only outside the created reality of TBBT.  It was a case of either the writers being mistaken/ignorant, or the writers being expedient in using the simpler, if incorrect, name.