The Math and
Physics behind
Murder
• Jacques Saunière, the curator of the Louvre,
has been murdered
• He has left clues to help catch his killer
• His death leads to a series of events which
leads to the discovery of the holy grail
Robert Langdon
• Highly respected and intelligent professor at
Harvard University
• In Paris for a lecture about his works
• Called in to help with the murder
investigation
Sophie Neveu
• A French
National Police
cryptographer
• Granddaughter
of Jacques
Saunière
13 – 3 – 2 – 21 – 1 – 1 – 8 – 5
O, Draconian devil!
Oh, lame saint!
“What the heck does this mean”
Da Vinci
• Langdon figures out
that the words are a
pair of anagrams for
“Leonardo da Vinci”
and “the Mona Lisa.”
• But the numbers
puzzle him
Fibonacci
• The numbers are the
first eight members of
the Fibonacci sequence,
written in a
disorganized order
• Sophie recognizes the
Fibonacci sequence
The Fibonacci Sequence
• A sequence of numbers in which each
number equals the sum of the two preceding
numbers
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144…
• In mathematical terms, the sequence Fn of
Fibonacci numbers is defined by the
equation
Fn = Fn-1 + Fn-2
The Mona Lisa
• The two begin searching
the museum for clues
• They first inspect the
Mona Lisa
• The anagram found
there leads them to
Madonna of the Rocks
The Key
• They find a
key behind
Madonna of
the Rocks
The Deposit Box
• There is an address inscribed on the key
• The address leads them to the Depository
Bank of Zurich
• The key is used for a safety deposit box
The Sequence
• They have to enter a ten digit account
number to access the box
• But which Fibonacci sequence should they
choose…the scrambled one or the unscrambled
one
(P.S. the wrong number would shut the
system down)
The Cryptex
• Sophie chooses the unscrambled sequence,
and they gain access to the box
• They find a cryptex inside the box
• It had five alphabetical dials which had to be
arranged in the correct sequence to spell out a
5-letter code word
• Do the math and that leads to about
11,881,376 possible combinations
The Knight
• There is a clue in the box that leads them to
Westminster Abbey in England
• Their solution to the cryptex lay in the
tomb of a knight whose funeral was
attended by “A Pope”
• “A Pope” is short for Alexander Pope, and
the knight buried there was Sir Isaac
Newton
The Orb
• The answer to the cryptex was an orb that
was somehow related to Isaac Newton
• The statues of planets in the solar system
were present, but none of them were the
answer
• The answer, instead, was the thing that lead
to Newton's law of universal gravitation, an
apple
A-P-P-L-E
• A-P-P-L-E opened the cryptex, and revealed
the map to the holy grail
Where Are the Reviews?
• Oh no…some one bumped Mr. Hopkins on the
head and stole all of his final reviews
• He manages to drag himself down to the
nurse’s office, but she just sends him back to
class
• He sees three people walking around outside
his class (Mike Tyson, Ray Lewis, and an
old lady) and realizes who took his reviews
The Clue
• Before he passes out, he manages to write
something on the Smart Board with his cool
new marker
8172
You are the sweetest thing in Calc, It’s true
22/7 is no were near as good as you
The Bank
• That clue, that must be referring to π
• You look behind the pi poster on the cabinet
and find a key for a deposit box at metro
bank
• You go there and ask to gain access to the box
• In order to do so, you have give them a pin
number
• Remember the clue…8172
e
• 8172… 2718… 2.718… e!
• 2718 is the pin
• You open the box and read the slip that’s
inside of it
You are truly a force to be wreckened with
This was proven by Sir Isacc Newton
The Shocking Truth
• Force…Newton’s Second Law… F=ma
• ma… the old lady did it!
• Turns out she had taken Mr. Hopkins’ class
at Penn State Harrisburg and failed it
• Old ladies really know how to hold a grudge!
Works Cited
• http://discovermagazine.com/2004/jun/cracki
ng-the-da-vinci-code
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Vinci_Code_(
film)