History Main / CarryTheOne

-->'''Tory''': You forgot to carry gravity.
-->''({{beat}})''
-->'''Grant''': ''What?!''

* This happens in a fifth-season episode of ''BabylonFive'' where a man Lyta is scanning tries to block her out by [[PsychicStatic doing math in his head]]. Her offhand comment that he forgot to carry the seven distracts him from his distracting long enough for her to get in.

--> Quark: "All we have to do is haul this transmitter to higher ground, more altitude less atmosphere. Go high enough and we just might get a signal out."
--> Odo: "How much higher do we have to go?"
--> Quark: "Carry the seven, take the square root, times pi... I'd say ah..." *points to a '''VERY''' high peak* "''that'' high."

* {{Parodied}} in ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'', the FanRemake of ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', with a pair of scientists staring at a whiteboard filled with very accurate-looking calculus equations.

-->'''Phil:''' Oh, yeah... I guess I should've carried the one-- OW! ''[Bam springs a mousetrap on Phil's ear]''
-->'''Bam:''' [[SarcasmMode Nice math, fat boy!]]

-->'''Marie:''' It's not so bad! You just make little mistakes.
-->'''Dirk ([[MaleGaze staring at Marie's breasts]]):''' They're not little.
-->'''Marie:''' See here? You forgot to carry the two.
-->'''Dirk:''' I'd like to carry those two.

* [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Pinkie Pie]] carries the two when calculating Rainbow's and Applejack's scores in a "Most Daring Pony" competition. Not that the piece of paper she scribbles on shows anything meaningful...

A math related StockPhrase. TheSmartGuy states the result of his calculations, only to be corrected. He promptly says: "Oh yeah, I forgot to carry the one". The phrase's purpose is to show that even though TheSmartGuy is only a human, and therefore prone to mistakes, he is able to spot where he made the mistake and explain it in a short {{Technobabble}}-ish sentence. Commonly used in this form:

* SeriousBusiness in this ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'' comic. http://xkcd.com/813/

* In 'Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Sheldon laughs excessively (and [[SignatureLaugh un-Sheldon-like]]) when remembering a time Leonard did this (in a published paper, no less).

* Serina, the [[SpaceshipGirl shipboard]] [[ArtificialIntelligence AI]] in ''VideoGame/HaloWars'', utters this when adjusting her calculations for the [[TimedMission time until the ''Spirit of Fire'' is pulled into the Shield World]]. Considering she's a hyper-advanced AI with a whole ship's computer systems to play with, she's probably just saying it for laughs.

* In ''TheBigBangTheory'', Sheldon laughs excessively (and [[SignatureLaugh un-Sheldon-like]]) when remembering a time Leonard did this (in a published paper, no less).

Also, when someone is calculating, he will always say "...carry the one...", mostly because carrying numbers is the most advanced mathematical concept [[WritersCannotDoMath most writers]] (and audiences) can remember from way back then. Note, though, that the line works with any single-digit number, so you can hear, for instance, "carry the seven".[[note]]The prevalence of "one" is probably due to the fact that, in the simplest case, addition of two numbers, you'll never have a bigger digit than 1 to carry, because 9+9='''1'''8. This is also a manifestation of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford\'s_law Benford's Law]][[/note]]

Also, when someone is calculating, he will always say "...carry the one...", mostly because carrying numbers is the most advanced mathematical concept [[WritersCannotDoMath most writers]] (and audiences) can remember from way back then. Note, though, that the line works with any single-digit number, so you can hear, for instance, "carry the seven".[[note]]The prevalence of "one" is probably due to the fact that, in the simplest case, addition of two numbers, you'll never have a bigger digit than 1 to carry, because 9+9='''1'''8. This is also a manifestation of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford's_law Benford's Law]][[/note]]

Also, when someone is calculating, he will always say "...carry the one...", mostly because carrying numbers is the most advanced mathematical concept [[WritersCannotDoMath most writers]] (and audiences) can remember from way back then. Note, though, that the line works with any single-digit number, so you can hear, for instance, "carry the seven".[[note]]The prevalence of "one" is probably due to the fact that, in the simplest case, addition of two numbers, you'll never have a bigger digit than 1 to carry, because 9+9='''1'''8.[[/note]]

Also, when someone is calculating, he will always say "...carry the one...", mostly because carrying numbers is the most advanced mathematical concept [[WritersCannotDoMath most writers]] ([[ViewersAreMorons and audiences]]) can remember from way back then. Note, though, that the line works with any single-digit number, so you can hear, for instance, "carry the seven".[[note]]The prevalence of "one" is probably due to the fact that, in the simplest case, addition of two numbers, you'll never have a bigger digit than 1 to carry, because 9+9='''1'''8.[[/note]]

* In one ''BloomCounty'' strip, Oliver uses an equation to prove that flightless waterfowl shouldn't exist, but by the end of the strip he realized he forgot to carry the two. [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins Resident penguin]] Opus, who had been [[PuffOfLogic fading out of existence]] until then, asks Oliver not to do that again.

* ''AdventuresInOdyssey'': Bart Rathbone mumbles "Carry the 4..." while calculating how much a neon light sign Kurt wants for his Student Body President campaign would cost.
* In ''TheNavyLark'', Lt. Phillips often 'carries the one' (among many other factors) when calculating "Left hand down a bit."

* An [[http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/The_Comet astronomer]] in ''KingdomOfLoathing'' tried to prove that a comet would not hit the Kingdom, but failed because he "forgot to carry the one."

* Serina, the [[SpaceshipGirl shipboard]] [[ArtificialIntelligence AI]] in ''HaloWars'', utters this when adjusting her calculations for the [[TimedMission time until the ''Spirit of Fire'' is pulled into the Shield World]]. Considering she's a hyper-advanced AI with a whole ship's computer systems to play with, she's probably just saying it for laughs.

** AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Considering nobody is LISTENING in the latter half...it's perfectly reasonable this is just him being DumbMuscle.

* Jayne in the first episode of ''{{Firefly}}'' does this in full sarcasm mode. 'Ten percent of nothin' is ... lemme do the math. Nothin', and nothin', carry the nothin' ... '

* According to [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=961 this]] ''QuestionableContent'' strip, carrying the one is SeriousBusiness in accounting.

* In StarTrekDeepSpaceNine, when Quark and Odo crash on an uninhabited planet and need to get a signal out to be rescued, this exchange occurs, where Quark (a Ferengi) is doing complex calculations in his head.

** ALternativeCharacterInterpretation: Considering nobody is LISTENING in the latter half...it's perfectly reasonable this is just him being DumbMuscle.

* Said by Dr. Frink in ''TheSimpsons'', episode "Itchy and Scratchy Land". He was informing his coworkers that the robots will inevitably turn against their human masters, then informs them they have 24 hours before this happens. The robots start revolting immediately, and Frink realizes he did the trope.

* Lampshaded in ''{{Futurama}}'', episode "Insane in the Mainframe". Hermes is doing stuff on his calculator and he says 'carry the one', then presses a button on his calculator that says, "Carry the One."

* Used by Booker in ''USAcres'' when he's calculating how many worms he's caught. The answer, of course, is "none."
* [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Pinkie Pie]] carries the two when calculating Rainbow's and Applejack's scores in a ''Most Daring Pony'' competition. Not that the piece of paper she scribbles on shows anything meaningful...

* TomLehrer, in "New Math," describes a traditional way of doing a subtraction problem: "Three from two is nine, carry the one..." but claims that in the New Math approach to mathematics teaching that was then in vogue, "the idea is to know what you're doing, rather than to get the right answer." As a result, he does the problem over again, with ''different'' carrying of the one...to get the same answer, of course, but he does it so fast that it's hard to follow.

* In the first ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', you find yourself in a virtual prison with another prisoner. The two of you have a riddle competition in order to see who's mind gets to enter your body. When you defeat him with a trick question that seems at first glance to require math skills, he says this.

** From "Parallel Universe":
-->'''Holly''': (something about millions of calculations on the fly) Alright, then. Counting down. 10, 9, 8, 6
-->'''Rimmer''': We're going to die!
-->'''Holly''': Oops, I've always had a blind spot for 7's.

-->Holly: (something about millions of calculations on the fly) Alright, then. Counting down. 10, 9, 8, 6
-->Rimmer: We're going to die!
-->Holly: Oops, I've always had a blind spot for 7's.

Also, when someone is calculating, he will always say "...carry the one...", mostly [[WritersCannotDoMath because carrying numbers is the most advanced mathematical concept most writers]] ([[ViewersAreMorons and audiences]]) [[WritersCannotDoMath can remember from way back then]]. Note, though, that the line works with any single-digit number, so you can hear, for instance, "carry the seven".[[note]]The prevalence of "one" is probably due to the fact that, in the simplest case, addition of two numbers, you'll never have a bigger digit than 1 to carry, because 9+9='''1'''8.[[/note]]