Ludicrous Precision: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

'''Data:''' 0.68 seconds sir. ([[Beat|long pause]]) For an android, that is nearly an eternity.|''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]''}}

 

* ''[[Incredible Hulk]]''

** Greg Pak likes to demonstrate Bruce Banner's intelligence by having him spout random math problems and ridiculously precise probabilities in his speech.

** Amadeus Cho ''always'' talked like that. The one thing he can do is work out the exact probablilty of pretty much anything, so he likes to do so. He can also use said abillity for [[Improbable Aiming Skills]] by calculating in an instant bullet ricochet, etc. During the Chaos War crossover, when almost the entire population of Earth was put into trance, Cho warned that at least 32451 people could die due to things such as being in speeding vehicles or in the middle of surgery.

 

* Macaulay Culkin's character in ''[[The Pagemaster]]''.

* ''[[Tron]]'':

'''Dillinger:''' Cute. }}

* C-3PO in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' movies, as demonstrated in the page quote to [[Never Tell Me the Odds]], which was a response to a statement that included one of these..

* Played with in ''[[Sylvie and Bruno]]'', when Bruno estimates that there are "about a thousand and four" pigs in the field outside. When told he can't possibly be sure about the "four" part, he insists that that's the ''only'' part he's sure about--there are four pigs right under the window, but he can't be nearly as precise about how many are in the rest of the field.

* Used in [[Canon Discontinuity|at least one version]] of ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (novel)|The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]''. Justified by [[Rule of Funny]], and in particular in this case because it's coming from the narrator.

* Used for the opposite effect in ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]''. When asked by the judge during Tom Robinson's trial, Mayella Ewell gives her age as "nineteen-and-a-half." The fact that a nineteen-year-old still thinks of her age in halves serves to show that she doesn't get out as much as she should.

* In dialogue (internal or with other characters), [[Keith Laumer]]'s [[Bolo|Bolos]] always measure things down to hundredths of a second or less.

* In ''[[Discworld/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'', Mr. Pump the golem berates conman Moist von Lipwig for his criminal lifestyle, citing that although he's never used violence, the deprivation of his victims has cumulatively killed 2.338 people. Later, Moist [[Lampshade Hanging|questions the accuracy of this]].

* Chapter 85 of ''[[Moby Dick]]'' deals with the question of whether the whale's spout is water or vapour, a question which has lasted from the beginning history until

 

 

** Spock did this all the time, even in situations where the precision of his calculation was obviously not just unnecessary, but impossible. In "The Enterprise Incident", for instance: "They should commence firing at us within the next... twelve point seven seconds". From when you started talking, Spock? From when you stopped? Huh?

** In "Errand of Mercy":

'''Spock:''' I endeavor to be accurate. }}

** Vulcans in general are gung-ho for this trope. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'''s "Take Me Out to the Holosuite":

'''Solok:''' Of course I do. But humans are often irked by such precision. Especially the more emotional humans. }}

** And odd variation occurs in "Imperfection". Tuvok scans a destroyed Borg Cube and announces the presence of approximately 37 Borg drones. Paris immediately states that such an even number does not sound like an approximation. Tuvok then has to clarify that he's not counting bodies, but ''body parts''.

** While Sheldon is the worst offender, the other characters (except Penny) do this, too. Leonard discusses a kiss with Leslie: "Well, the Earth didn't move. Except for the 383 miles it was going to anyway."

* Spencer Reid in ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' does this all the time, much to his teammates' annoyance. Lampshaded at one point:

'''Elle:''' Oh. It's not working. }}

* The [[Narrator]] in ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' always does this when giving the age of a character.

* Played for laughs in ''[[Metal Wolf Chaos]]'' where Jody flat-out ''guessing'' it will take the Alcatraz Cannon four minutes to recharge turns out to be accurate to the nearest hundredth of a second.

* Lampshaded in ''[[Space Quest]] 6'':

'''Computer:''' Don't apologize to me. It's the players you ruined it for. }}

* ''[[Pokémon]]''

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' is about [[Mad Scientist|Mad Scientists]], so it should be expected:

* In ''[[Bob and George]]'', during the Fifth Game arc, Mega Man wonders who the next master is (after he had cut Gyro Man to ribbons), and then come to a card that says "Crystal Man" and the odds of it answering Mega Man's question; 1 in 2^24,036,583.

* [http://www.jasonlove.com/cartoons/00605-funny-cartoons-baby-age.gif This panel] from Jason Love's cartoons.

== Western Animation ==

* Dnerd in ''[[The BOTS Master]]'' often spouted off really precise statistics, though this took a backseat to his being completely incapable of carrying a standard conversation.

"Playacting? Playacting is a compound intransitive verb..." }}

* In one episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', Homer hears that the average man lives to be 76.2 years old, exclaiming that he's 38.1 years old. The best part is that he's wrong -- he's 39.

* Exploited in an episode of ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius|The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius]]'', when Jimmy came up with an idea to get rid of his robotic servants made mainly to help him with bullies, since they did their job so well, he became hugely unpopular. When Jimmy said that pi equaled to 3, the robots tried to [[Mouthful of Pi|correct him]], exploding before they achieved [[Ludicrous Precision]].

* ''[[The Angry Beavers]]'': Daggett achieves this while hiding under the floorboards.

* Ron in ''[[Kim Possible]]'' goes through an entire episode like this, despite not being the brainy one... he just took a big interest in his dad's work (Mr. Stoppable is an actuary).

* In the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode "Fall Weather Friends", Pinkie Pie is commentating on the Running of the Leaves, and at one point she tries to figure out exactly how far ahead of Applejack Rainbow Dash is:

* The ''Star Trek TOS'' example above is spoofed in ''[[Muppet Babies]]'', where Gonzo (as Spock) takes so long to say the fractions on the odds that he has to be cut off by someone.