TV SERIES · 2005– · USA
Numb3rs
24 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (24)
- #001
Navi Rawat's character was named "Amita Ramanujan," after Srinivasa Ramanujan, who worked in the first two decades of the twentieth century, most notably with G. H. Hardy in number theory.
- #002
Despite his character's genius on the series, David Krumholtz calls himself a "math idiot." He received math crib sheets to work from, along with scripts prepared by Caltech professor Gary Lorden.
- #003
"Cal Sci" (or the California Institute of Science) is modeled on the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, and its characters are loosely based on Caltech professors and students. Some episodes of the series were filmed on the Caltech campus. Gary Lorden, chairman of Caltech's mathematics department, consulted on the series. The pilot episode was also screened at Caltech, where it ultimately received a standing ovation.
- #004
Diane Farr was pregnant for most of the first half of the third season, and her character, Megan Reeves, was temporarily reassigned to Washington, D.C. in the second half (while Farr was on maternity leave) to explain her absence. Because the series producers did not want to deal with the consequences of Megan being pregnant and having a baby, they instead hid the pregnancy behind increasingly large folders, bags, desks, computer monitors and finally extras.
- #005
The photo of Charlie (David Krumholtz) in his old high school yearbook is actually a promotional still from the film 10 Things I Hate About You (1999).
- #006
In season 3, episode 6, at the end of the episode Alan turns on the television and says there is usually something good on late at night, because that is when they show the classics. The Taxi theme music plays (Judd Hirsch starred in Taxi).
- #007
As the producers prepared to present the series concept to the network, they put together a detailed presentation of story possibilities, expecting that executives would be cautious about accepting such a cerebral premise. Instead, the network executives were immediately excited that the series had good potential and insisted that production begin right away.
- #008
From season 3 onward, music plays throughout all of every episode. In some places the music is very quiet, but you can still hear that it is playing.
- #009
While filming the pilot episode, Rob Morrow and David Krumholtz (the second one broadcast) discovered they had something in common: both of their mothers were dental hygienists.
- #010
David Krumholtz is the only actor who appears in every episode of the series, including the unsold pilot.
- #011
David Krumholtz and Peter MacNicol had previously appeared together in the film Addams Family Values (1993). MacNicol played a camp counselor who punishes Krumholtz in one scene for wanting to read a physics book instead of doing camp activities. This is an amusing contrast with this series, in which the two play best friends and MacNicol's character is a physicist.
- #012
The original concept for the series had it taking place at M.I.T. rather than CalTech. At that time Don was to be played by Gabriel Macht. Although David Krumholtz had already been cast as Charlie, other actors involved at that stage of the production included Michael Rooker and Anna Deavere Smith.
- #013
In Killer Chat (2006) (#3.11), Larry Fleinhardt goes into space.
- #014
The real-life Craftsman house used as the family home where the Eppes brothers grew up, and which Charlie buys from Alan at the start of the series, is located at 2515 4th Avenue in the West Adams district of Los Angeles, California. After the first season, the house was used only for exterior scenes, and a replica of the interior was built on a sound stage for the convenience of movable walls (and without the worry of damaging a historic, privately owned home with film equipment). The house is a real family home that has belonged to the same family since about 1999.
- #015
A framed 8x10-inch (approximately) photo of Alan Eppes's late wife, that is, Don and Charlie's mother, is shown hanging on a wall in the living room in many episodes, particularly in the first season.
- #016
David Krumholtz grew up in Rego Park, New York, and his first commercial was for a Forest Hills restaurant. Rob Morrow played Dr. Joel Fleischman, who is from Forest Hills, in Northern Exposure (1990). Judd Hirsch played John Lacey, who lives in Rego Park, in the film Dear John (1988). Forest Hills and Rego Park are two adjacent neighborhoods in Queens, New York.
- #017
In Uncertainty Principle (2005) (#1.2), the following information about the Eppes family is given: Don and Charlie graduated from high school on the same day, even though Don is older; Alan's wife and Charlie and Don's mother died of cancer; and when Charlie was three years old he could multiply four-digit numbers in his head.
- #018
Guest stars Christopher Lloyd and Marilu Henner had both appeared with Judd Hirsch on "Taxi."
- #019
Rob Morrow, David Krumholtz, Judd Hirsch, Alimi Ballard and Diane Farr were born in or around New York, New York. Although she was born in Fairfax, Virginia, Sabrina Lloyd's New York City connection is that she moved there in 1988 at the age of eighteen (ironically, her character Teri Lake is one of only two characters explicitly stated to be from New York, the other being Ballard's David Sinclair; the Eppes brothers were born in or around Los Angeles, and their parents met and lived there for a long time, but it is never explicitly stated that they were born there or anywhere else, and Megan (Farr) is only said to be from "back East," though it is later noted she will visit New York again).
- #020
David Krumholtz, Peter MacNicol and Christopher Lloyd appeared in Addams Family Values (1993).
- #021
"Sacrifice" (2005) (#1.11) was Sabrina Lloyd's (Terry Lake) final episode.
- #022
The building used for the FBI offices is the main building of Los Angeles Center Studios, a 20-acre film production studio in the City West neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Its main gate is at 450 South Bixel Street (which likely inspired the name of the Bixel Street Gang, a gang the team encounters several times over the course of the series). The building used for filming and production offices is surrounded by six sound stages, nine other buildings, three streets and a private park (also used for filming). The property has a museum dedicated to its history, a website (lacenterstudios.com) and a Wikipedia page.
- #023
The characters who appear from the beginning of the series to the end are: the three members of the Eppes family (Alan, Don and Charlie), Larry Fleinhardt, Amita Ramanujan, David Sinclair and FBI Technical Agent Matt Li (whose name is largely unstated throughout the series). Three of them announced plans to move on to other things in the final episode (David to D.C. to run his own team, and Charlie and Amita to give a joint guest lecture at Cambridge University).
- #024
The most frequently recurring guest characters are: --Michelle Nolden as AUSA Robin Brooks (appeared in 15 episodes, ten of them in the last two seasons including the finale), --Matthew Yang King as the unnamed FBI technology agent/Technical Agent Matt/Matt Li (14 episodes, one per season including the second episode and the finale), --Lou Diamond Phillips as Agent Ian Edgerton (9 episodes, one per season, though two in the fourth, and in the third, fifth and sixth including the finale), --Leslie Silva as M.E. Ridenhour (9 episodes, from the third season to the sixth), --Susan Beaubian as FBI Computer Tech Stendhauser (9 episodes, from the first to the third season) and --Kathy Najimy as Dr. Mildred Finch (9 episodes in the third season, mentioned in at least one other). Honorable mentions: --Will Patton as LAPD Lieutenant Gary Walker (4 episodes, second to fourth seasons), --Wendell Pierce as William Bradford (4 episodes, third to fifth seasons), --Henry Winkler as (disgraced Agent) Roger Bloom (3 episodes, fifth and sixth seasons), --Shawn Hatosy as Dwayne Carter (3 episodes, third and fourth seasons) and --David Gallagher as Buck Winters and Kim Dickens as Crystal Hoyle (3 episodes and 2 episodes respectively, third and fifth seasons). Non-recurring guest character: --Sophina Brown as the episode's guest character Bianca Styles (second-season episode "Scorched" (2x11)) and then as main character Nikki Betancourt (fifth and sixth seasons).
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