Numbers (stylized as NUMB3RS) is an American crime drama television series that originally aired on CBS from January 23, 2005, to March 12, 2010, with a total of six seasons consisting of 118 episodes.

The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and his brother Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz), a college mathematics professor and prodigy, who helps Don solve crimes for the FBI.

A typical episode begins with a crime, which is subsequently investigated by a team of FBI agents led by Don and mathematically modeled by Charlie, with the help of Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol) and Amita Ramanujan (Navi Rawat).

[1] The show revolved around three intersecting groups of characters: the FBI, scientists at the fictitious California Institute of Science (CalSci), and the Eppes family.

The main FBI agents are Charlie's brother, Don Eppes, and Terry Lake, as well as David Sinclair.

Amita receives an offer for an assistant professor position at Harvard University, but is plagued by doubt as her relationship with Charlie is challenged, and her career is in upheaval.

Amita has trouble adjusting to her new role as a CalSci professor, and Larry announces his leave of absence; he will be on the International Space Station for six months, which greatly distresses Charlie.

Charlie and his colleagues are troubled by Dr. Mildred Finch, the newly appointed chair of the CalSci Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy Division, whom they learn has begun dating Alan.

Meanwhile, Don dates Agent Liz Warner and questions his ethics and self worth, and receives counseling.

Despite Don's concerns, Alan engages in some FBI consulting with his engineering knowledge, and Larry returns from the space station, disillusioned.

Diane Farr, pregnant for most of the season, left the show for maternity leave in episode 18 ("Democracy"); her character's absence is explained as a particular assignment to the Department of Justice.

In the season finale, Megan leaves the team to move back to Washington, DC, and Charlie goes head-to-head with Don about a case.

At the end of the episode, Don drives away to another case, and Charlie admits that giving up FBI work will be more challenging than he expected.

After some delay, Larry leaves Los Angeles to find a vacant piece of land for sale within driving distance of the city.

Charlie and Amita begin planning their wedding and decide to join the Big Brother/Big Sister program to practice parenting skills.

Before leaving, Charlie and Amita decide that the family garage should be converted to a guest house so Alan can continue living with them.

Leaving Colby, Liz, and Nikki behind, David departs for Washington, DC, to a position as an anti-corruption team leader.

[37][40][41] A book entitled The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS: Solving Crime with Mathematics (ISBN 0452288576; published August 28, 2007), written by Keith Devlin and Dr. Gary Lorden, a consultant to the show along with Dr. Orara, a physics consultant, explains some of the mathematical techniques that have been used both in actual FBI cases and in other law-enforcement departments.

[42][43] Since the premiere season, the blog edited by Prof. Mark Bridger (Northeastern University) has commented on the mathematics behind each episode of the show.

[44] Wolfram Research (the developers of Mathematica) is the chief math consultant, reviewing scripts and providing background mathematics for the show.

[46] The same part-time consultant offered criticism of the show's portrayal of female mathematicians and expressed concern over the appropriateness of the relationship between Charlie Eppes and his graduate student Amita Ramanujan.

[46] The idea for Numbers was generated in the late 1990s when Nick Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, the show's creators, attended a lecture given by Bill Nye, a popular science educator.

Some reporters, such as Joanne Ostrow of the Denver Post,[57] the staff members of People Magazine,[58] the editors of The Futon Critic,[59] the staff of the Scripps Howard News Service,[60] and Mike Hughes of USA Today[61] acknowledged the presence of the number three in the title.

Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly asked Krumholtz about the three in the title; his response was, "Isn't that annoying?

[64] Brad Aspey of The Muskegon Chronicle, stated, "No, that wasn't an ugly typo you just read - "NUMB3RS" (pronounced numbers) is the idiosyncratic title of filmmakers Ridley and Tony Scott's astute and crafty psychological drama which shows that even math can make for edge-of-your-seat entertainment.

"[65] Ellen Gray of The Philadelphia Daily News, said, "Some of you may have noticed that in promoting "Numb3rs," which premieres Sunday before moving to its regular 10 p.m. Friday slot, CBS has chosen to put a 3 in place of the "e" in the title....I won't be going along with this particular affectation, which slows down my typing and seems to be the graphic equivalent of the reversed "R" in Toys R Us.

[56] Jonathan Storm of The Philadelphia Inquirer, in his review of the series stated, "You'd think CBS's new Numbers, which premieres at 10 tonight after the Patriots-Steelers football game, is just another one of those shows with numskull titles trying to draw attention to themselves.

[67] David Brooks of The Telegraph (Nashua, NH) devoted the majority of his entire review to the use of leet in the series title.