MovieChat Forums > Shrink (2009) Discussion > Patrick's borderline idiot-savant calcul...

Patrick's borderline idiot-savant calculation example was wrong!


In the beginning of the movie, when Patrick (Dallas Roberts) speaks about him being a borderline idiot-savant genius, and makes the number example which is actually wrong, his example was 548x297=162765 whereas 548x297 it's 162756, did anybody else notice this? I might be remembering wrong, so if anybody knows please speak up, thanks.

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you must be a borderline idiot-savant to notice, because frankly, whne i watched the movie, i wasnt able to count this correctly by heart. And this is not that kind of movie you come back to and overanalize.

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if the number is ending in a 5 you can't be multiplying 7 and 8.

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Right. And more generally, if one multiplies any even integer (a whole number that ends on {0, 2, 4, 6, 8}) with any other integer (be it even or odd), the resulting product will also always be an even integer, never an odd one.

Since one of the integer factors ends on eight and is therefore even, the resulting product cannot end on five, because five is odd {1, 3, 5, 7, 9}.

And that IS easy to spot IF one is mathematical minded.

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They do mention in the mistakes section on imdb that this might be on purpose, also it does seem kinda funny, getting it wrong by one digit; for the people who do realise that, it's a really cool inside joke. Not only that, but it helps add more to the character. I mean someone who knows he has this ability, doesn't try to justify it or even use it, and all the time actually getting it wrong, even by just a tad. It's kinda funny.

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[deleted]

I have a feeling this was done on purpose since if the writer wrote that in and it was supposed to be correct- he would have done the math to make sure. Anyway-the mistake just goes to show how full of himself this character is anyway (smart-but full of himself)

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I personally think it was a subtle joke poking fun at how full of himself this guy is.

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I didn't pay attention to the numbers, you can tell by the context of the situation that the math was wrong.

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This was done on purpose to show that Patrick isn't an idiot-savant.

As others have stated, it SHOULD have been easy to spot if your brain was working while you were watching the movie.

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My take on this is Patrick thought the right answer but only inverted the last two digits. He mis-spoke. I understand dyslexia will do this. If he had OCD, this can be forgiven. As to his "idiot-savant" diagnosis, this is not to be taken literally. We could say he knew he was brilliant but also felt he was an idiot for having such crazy symptoms.

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My take on this is Patrick thought the right answer but only inverted the last two digits. He mis-spoke. I understand dyslexia will do this. If he had OCD, this can be forgiven. As to his "idiot-savant" diagnosis, this is not to be taken literally. We could say he knew he was brilliant but also felt he was an idiot for having such crazy symptoms.

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