MATHEMATICS IN CINEMA

Part 2

THE DAM BUSTERS (1955)

O

n the use of Congruent triangles to measure

distances. Also some applied math problems on

bouncing balls on water and detonations in

water.

T

he British are desperate to shorten the length of

WW2 and propose a daring raid to smash

Germany's industrial heart. At first the objective

looks impossible until a British scientist invents

an ingenious weapon capable of destroying the

planned target.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (2001)

A

bout the fabric of space time and how

humans have tried to find the meaning of life

in art, poetry or mathematical formulas.

THE HANGOVER (2009)M

athematical thoughts of Allen, when winning at

Vegas: from simple arithmetics to Fourier theory.

How many formulas can you identify?

T

he plot follows four friends who travel to Las Vegas

for a bachelor party, only to wake up the next

morning not remembering a thing and missing the

groom, whose wedding is scheduled to occur the

next day. The film was inspired by the filmmakers'

real-life misadventures

STAR TREK (2009)

Y

oung Spock learns Math. He memorizes

the formula (4pi/3) r3 for the volume of the

sphere, the square root of 2396324 and the

definition of dimensionality log(n)/log(d).

OLD SCHOOL(2003)

T

his comedy not only shows shots of

Harvard college but also some

rather tough math test problems:

like Harriet's method of solving

cubics, Diophantine equations or

integration problems.

THE CODE CONSPIRACY(2002)

T

he ulam prime spiral appears. One could overlook that

almost nothing connected with codes, physics or math

does make sense in this movie, but that the blue

picture of the Ulam spiral is fake is slightly annoying.

W

hat if a computer disc held a code so powerful that it

could change the world forever? While translating the

Dead Sea Scrolls, a professor discovers a hidden

formula that not only unlocks all known computer

encryption, but also scientifically proves the existence

of God!

IT’S MY TURN

A

lecture on the Snake lemma in homological

algebra in which a student pretends to know

things better.

A

successful but stressed mathematics professor

(Clayburgh) goes to her father's wedding and falls

in love with her father's bride's son (Douglas), a

prematurely retired pro baseball player. She must

choose between him and her current boyfriend

(Grodin), between Chicago and New York, and

between research and administration.

SNEAKERS (1992)A

lecture on computational number theory. A method superior

to the number field sieve is announced. The mathematician

Len Adleman advised on the making of this move.

F

reelance spies track down an all powerful code breaking chip

developed by a mysteriously funded mathematician named

Gunter Janek. In a brief scene, the long-haired, white-suited

Janek lectures on the possibility of finding a faster way to

factor numbers, shouting lots of big math words, but not really

explaining anything. Still, the film correctly points out that a

breakthrough in factoring could happen and would be worth a

lot to criminals and people who break codes.

STRAW DOGS (1971)

A

blackboard with mathematical

astrophysical formulas.

U

pon moving to Britain to get away from

American violence, astrophysicist David

Sumner and his wife Amy are bullied and

taken advantage of by the locals hired to

do construction. When David finally takes

a stand it escalates quickly into a bloody

battle as the locals assault his house.

DONALD IN MATHEMAGIC LAND (1959)

D

isney used animation here to explain

through this wonderful adventure of

Donald how math3matics can be

useful in our real life. Through this

journey Donald shows us how

mathematics are not just numbers

and charts, but magical living things