"NUMB3RS" is about an FBI agent who teams up with his math-genius brother to solve crime. Based on real-life scenarios, it shows how mathematical concepts ranging from number theory to probability are used to outwit serial killers and bank robbers and counterfeiters.

I like the program because it’s different from the usual line-up of what-will they-think of-next reality shows and goofy-stocky-guy-with attractive-witty-wife sitcoms. I like it because it puts a twist on the procedural crime drama, seeking to educate as well as entertain, and in the process, glamorizing an unpopular subject.

Mostly, though, I like "NUMB3RS" because it reminds me of my dad.

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It’s been a long time since math has made me curious or excited. Like society, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the subject. It has more than its share of negative connotations: people think of math as boring, confusing or a chore. We live in a calculator-dependent world where people are quick to dismiss math as something they can’t do and don’t understand; something abstract and untouchable and impractical.

The fact is, math is everywhere, and a lot of people are using a lot of math to do a lot of things that affect every one of us, whether it’s protecting Internet passwords or outsmarting terrorists. Mathematicians are searching for larger and larger prime numbers to use in codes. Math is used to design everything from the microchip inside a toy to the structure of a skyscraper. Probability is used by everyone from weather forecasters to FBI agents. Even the guy who wants to apply chemicals to an odd-shaped yard needs to use geometry if he wants to kill the weeds – but not the grass.

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To a kid looking up at rows of equations on the blackboard in my dad’s office, math seemed wonderfully mysterious. I thought math was cool and fun and larger than life: a language people all over the globe could understand; a world with mysteries and problems that nobody – not even my dad – could solve.

I liked math for a while. I was good at arithmetic and fascinated by algebra. And then the math got more complicated, and I got frustrated. Geometry was a struggle, trigonometry something to dread. I muddled through calculus and steered clear of math after that. I figured I’d never need to use it after college, so why bother?

I was half-right. The most I ever used math as a reporter was to calculate the percentage by which a school budget increased. In daily life, however, I use math all the time, and in more ways than I would have expected: completing tax returns and balancing the checkbook, figuring out whether the economy size really is economical, comparing car loans, buying carpet, reading pie charts, understanding poll results.

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My 7-year-old has a head for numbers. She’s always had an uncanny knack for remembering people’s birth dates and phone numbers and ages. At school, she breezes through worksheets and computer games. At home, she adds up columns of Yahtzee numbers for fun. And when she’s dozing off at night, she transposes the numbers on her digital clock to see how many combinations she can come up with.

It won’t be long before she’s asking questions I can’t answer.

I know I’m lucky to have a math reference just a phone call away. I know parents who have checked out textbooks from the library so they could help their middle school students with homework. Others just throw up their hands or shake their heads.

I think of my dad every time I watch "NUMB3RS." Lots of things remind me of him: a post-it note that says "Do Not Erase" on a blackboard full of hastily scribbled computations, the math-genius character’s passion for prime numbers. And as much as "NUMB3RS" has renewed my admiration for my dad’s talent, it’s also made me think about and appreciate math in a way I haven’t in a long time.

I’ll probably never be the type who calculates the odds of getting four of a kind before shaking the Yahtzee dice. But I have to admit, I’m kind of looking forward to a refresher course in algebra.

After all, I can’t expect Grandpa to help with every challenging homework assignment.