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Math and Predicting Human Behavior


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             Math can predict human behavior because geographic profiling has caught real criminals. In Dr. Keith Devlin and Dr. Gary Lorden's book, The Numbers behind Numb3rs: Solving Crime with Mathematics, they respond to people's doubts on using real math in the TV show Numb3rs by arguing and showing that the math can be used in real life to help in investigations. .
             The authors of the book start by summarizing the first TV episode of Numb3rs: Special agent Don Ebbs brings his evidence home because he has felt like he has hit a dead end in a rape and murder case. The rapist is still out there raping and killing his victims and Don feels hopeless. When his mathematician brother Charlie sneaks a peak of the map of the crime scenes he wants to help. Don doesn't understand at first, but he lets his brother help. Using math Charlie makes a geographic profiling map to track down where the rapist lives (Devlin and Lorden 1-5). "The aim of [geographic profiling] is to use offence locations in the prediction of the area in which the offender resides" (Kocsis, Richard, et al. 44). To put it another way, geographic profiling aims to use the criminals spots of crime to find where the criminal lives. The FBI team finds the criminal and the case is solved thanks to Charlie using his math skills (Devlin and Lorden 1-5).
             In the same chapter of the book, The Numbers behind Numb3rs: Solving Crime with Mathematics, the authors show how the first episode is based almost exactly on a real life FBI case. Math was used to predict human behavior (where the criminal lived) from detecting the pattern of crime scenes. A similar case happened like this in Louisiana. Kim Russmo Ph.D., a brilliant mathematician, used geographic profiling to find where a criminal lived. Russmo created geographic profiling by using his education in mathematics and criminal justice (6-7). "[A] computer program Russo wrote, called Rigel" is used to find where a criminal lives (6).


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