The Friendship Algorithm
Big Bang Theory episode
Chronology	Season 2, Episode 13
Airdate	January 19, 2009
Guest star(s)	John Ross Bowie as Barry Kripke Will Deutsch as Jeremy Jane Galloway Heitz as Mildred Jade Zdanow as Rebecca
Writer(s)	Bill Prady, Richard Rosenstock, Chuck Lorre & Steven Molaro
Teleplay	Chuck Lorre & Steven Molaro
Story	Bill Prady & Richard Rosenstock
Director	Mark Cendrowski
Episode guide
← "The Killer Robot Instability"	→ "The Financial Permeability"
Season guide
← Season 1	→ Season 3

"The Friendship Algorithm" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on January 19, 2009.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Extended Plot 3 Quotes 4 Critics 5 Notes 6 Trivia 7 Gallery  8 Video 9 Comments

Summary Edit

Sheldon wants access to a university computer which Kripke controls, so Sheldon decides to become friends with his adversary. He even invents an algorithm for making friends.

Extended PlotEdit

Socially awkward, Sheldon develops a scientific procedure (the titular "Friendship Algorithm") for making friends. He needs to use an open science grid computer that is in Kripke's office, but Leonard tells Sheldon that only Kripke's friends can use it. After repeated rebuffs from Kripke, Sheldon goes to a bookstore to research making friends. He finds a children's book on the subject and tries to make friends with a little girl whom he finds that he has things in common with. After inviting her to the zoo, he is hurried out by Leonard who notes that he is in direct view of a security camera and might be picked up for pedophilia. Sheldon then designs a flowchart for making friends. Sheldon follows his algorithm and gets stuck in a loop asking Kripke hobby after hobby. Howard helps him out adding a loop and counter making him choose the least objectionable hobby. He goes rock climbing with Kripke , but faints halfway up when he sees how far he has come. Sheldon invites him over to his apartment, much to the disgust of everyone else. Raj is informed he is being replaced by Kripke as five friends would be too many to handle. Kripke then tells Sheldon that there is a sign-up sheet for the computer and he has no control over it. Sheldon then dismisses Kripke as his friend and goes back to his other four friends: Leonard, Howard, Raj, and

Penny.

QuotesEdit

Penny: What about Howard and Raj, how did Sheldon become friends with them?

Leonard: I don't know...how do carbon atoms form a benzene ring? Proximity and valence electrons.

Penny: Well yeah sure, when you put it that way.

CriticsEdit

"Those writers love Sheldon. He is the reason this show is on the map in many ways. At present he is also the reason it will never become more than it." - The TV Critic's Review

NotesEdit

• Title Reference: The algorithm created by Sheldon that he uses to make friends.
• Chuck Lorre's vanity card [1]
• This episode was watched by 11.10 million people.

TriviaEdit

• It should be noted that when Leonard drags Sheldon out of the bookstore, he still has a copy of "Stu The Cockatoo Is New To The Zoo" in his hand. It is unknown whether he went back and paid for it or not.
• Sheldon innocently tries to make a friend; however, Leonard takes him out of the store before someone thinks he's stalking little children.

Gallery Edit

VideoEdit

The Friendship Algorithm(02:40)
306 views

Episodes | Season 2

The Bad Fish Paradigm • The Codpiece Topology • The Barbarian Sublimation • The Griffin Equivalency • The Euclid Alternative • The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem • The Panty Piñata Polarization • The Lizard-Spock Expansion • The White Asparagus Triangulation • The Vartabedian Conundrum • The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis • The Killer Robot Instability • The Friendship Algorithm • The Financial Permeability • The Maternal Capacitance • The Cushion Saturation • The Terminator Decoupling • The Work Song Nanocluster • The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition • The Hofstadter Isotope • The Vegas Renormalization • The Classified Materials Turbulence • The Monopolar Expedition