Mathman
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Mathman was a popular cartoon segment on the PBS show Square One TV.
A parody of Pac-Man, Mathman was a fictional arcade game starring a character of the same name. He was a green creature with a big mouth and a football helmet, and a single foot on which he hopped around the game maze.
Mathman's objective was to run around a Pac-Man-like maze board (the traditional dots were replaced with + and - signs) and eventually encounter a number or polygon. He would then have until the count of three to determine if that number/polygon was consistent with the game's rule for that day (e.g., factors of 18, prime numbers, quadrilaterals, symmetrical polygons, etc.) and if so, eat it. If Mathman was able to eat all the correct numbers/polygons, he was awarded a free game. However, Mathman accomplished this feat only a handful of times.
Mathman's nemesis was Mr. Glitch, a cranky tornado who was always described with a different adjective (the "inconsiderate" Mr. Glitch, the "ill-tempered" Mr. Glitch, the "frumious" Mr. Glitch, etc.) He would appear whenever Mathman had to make a decision, and if Mathman ate an incorrect number/polygon, Mr. Glitch would eat him.
Occasionally Mathman did not play the game himself, making Mr. Glitch the contestant. If he answered incorrectly, he would be eaten by Mathman (or on one occasion, Mathman's dog Mathdog.)
During the later seasons, the format of the game was changed so that Mathman would have to decide if a certain statement (read aloud by the game's announcer) was true or false, and then eat the letter T or F. These were usually general-knowledge statements about math (e.g., "True or false: Math and arithmetic are the same thing") rather than questions that required actual problem-solving skills.
[edit] Trivia
- Mathman's helmet is that of the Michigan Wolverines. Square One TV also featured numerous other references to University of Michigan athletics. [1]
