Math series equates to movies
The Mathematics Department at GCSU launched the first of a monthly Math Colloquium series this week by highlighting math that is actually seen in current movies and television shows.
The series is intended for anyone interested in math, not just math majors. The talks are designed for a broad audience and presented in a way that everyone can understand.
Dr. Hugh Sanders, professor of applied mathematics, began the series with the lecture on mathematics in the media. The lecture began with a trailer from the release of the movie “21,”which was released in March. In “21,” six students at M.I.T. use their superior math skills to win millions of dollars gambling in Las Vegas. The movie is based on a true story and math is the main theme throughout the film.
Next, Sanders showed clips from a few other popular movies with some unintentional math errors.
One clip was from the 1939 classic, “The Wizard of Oz.” Many viewers may not notice, but the scarecrow actually exclaims a distorted version of the Pythagorean theorem after he receives his brain from Oz.
Sanders then presented other clips from well-known movies and television shows such as “The Swimmer,” “Cast Away,” “Star Trek” and episodes from “The Simpsons” and the CBS series “Numb3rs.”
All of the clips were linked by one common thread. They all have scenes that are strongly related to mathematics in the real world.
Some clips showed funny accidental math errors, while others demonstrated serious expressions of math.
“I was interested in finding these for a class I taught, but as a hobby as well,” Sanders said. “I came across all the clips from many different sources. Many were given to me by friends such as Dr. John Hornsbey who taught a class called ‘Math Class goes to Hollywood’ and Dr. Oliver Knill, a professor at Harvard, who has a Web site called ‘Mathematics in Movies.’ Some clips I found in movies I rented, and my wife even found several for me.”
Dr. Ryan Brown, assistant professor of mathematics and coordinator for the event, encouraged more students to come to the colloquium.
“This is not intended for solely math majors, but really anyone who is interested in what mathematicians actually do,” Brown said.
The first meeting had many students and faculty in attendance, including senior math major Joey Shackelford.
“I wanted to go to the colloquium because I felt like it was good exposure to learn about math in the media,” Shackelford said. “Afterwards, I was definitely glad that I went. Dr. Sanders was very well organized, and I found the entire presentation very enlightening. It made me want to learn more.”
The Math Colloquium will continue to meet throughout the semester every first Wednesday of the month from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in A&S 272 to discuss various topics in the field of mathematics. Each week a new speaker will share a different aspect of math.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Sep 12 2008. Filed under News.
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