Snapping my suspenders

Storyteller and game author John Wick once wrote a column about how the audience members watching fiction engage in willing suspension of disbelief, but sometimes, the storyteller messes up and something happens that yanks you out of that willing participation; he said that such moments "snapped his suspenders."

After having written positively about the verisimilitude of the television crime show Numb3rs, which features an academic, mathematician Charlie Eppes, as a lead character. And then, the last episode, "Prime Suspect," goes and snaps my suspenders.

In this episode, we learn that mathematician Charlie is a tenured faculty member, who buys a big house from his father—at full cost, mind you—that is being sold because property values are skyrocketing, and that he is almost 30.

"Snap!" "Ow!"

Okay, I know that mathematicians typically have an earlier career start than biologists; many mathematicians do their best work when they're younger. But just for comparison, I was incredibly proud that I defended my doctorate just before my 30^th birthday. In the spirit of the show, let's run the numbers. Average age for entering university is 18. Four year degree puts you at 22. Average length for a doctorate in mathematics—let's say four, putting our protagonist at 26. Not sure chow common postdocs are in mathematics, so I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the writers and omit that step of most academic careers. The average tenure-track period at most universities is probably five or six years; let's give the benefit of the doubt and say five years, which puts Charlie at around 31 to make tenure.

Even if I could get around the age thing, which I almost can, what the heck do the producers think assistant professors make? The episodes made mention of some academic awards, but even given that, I know of no assistant professor on one income who could manage to afford a two story house in prime real estate in a major city.

Maybe there's more money in applied mathematics than biology. Hm. Expression of sincere doubt.