Question on bits and pieces of mathematics that show up in popular media (TV, movies, comics, etc.)
4
votes
3answers
81 views
Statistics Workshop for High School Students
We are going to hold an introductory workshop about the statistics. The participants will be students who have just finished their 8th or 9th grade. The workshop consists of 10 two-hour sessions. The ...
4
votes
2answers
188 views
Fermat's Last Theorem's Proof
Where can I find a copy of the proof that proves Fermat's Last Theorem? Also, what different mathematical topics would I need to know to fully understand all of the syntax and reasoning in the proof? ...
25
votes
0answers
648 views
What is the solution to Nash's problem presented in “A Beautiful Mind”?
I was watching the said movie the other night, and I started thinking about the equation posed by Nash in the movie. More specifically, the one he said would take some students a lifetime to solve ...
24
votes
19answers
1k views
Mathematics understood through poems? [closed]
Along with Diophantus mathematics has been represented in form of poems often times. Bhaskara II composes in Lilavati:
Whilst making love a necklace broke.
A row of pearls mislaid.
One sixth fell to ...
21
votes
4answers
1k views
The Monty Hall problem
I was watching the movie 21 yesterday, and in the first 15 minutes or so the main character is in a classroom, being asked a "trick" question (in the sense that the teacher believes that he'll get the ...
12
votes
3answers
264 views
Explaining what real math is to a high school student
I think, after reading through some of the questions here and their answers, that there are many people here who share my opinion on high school mathematics that it's quite different from "real ...
5
votes
3answers
801 views
Do the equations used in Stargate make sense or are they gibberish?
Just wondering if equations used as props in SG1, atlantis and most recently Universe are just random and cool looking, or real/meaningful and cool looking.
Most recent episode of Stargate Universe ...
2
votes
1answer
100 views
Monty Hall Application
Driver A comes to a 3 way path junction but is not sure which one to take.
Just as he decides to take path 1, a cyclist came by and told driver A all he knows is that he is going on path 3 which would ...
12
votes
9answers
2k views
How Can One Prove $\cos(\pi/7) + \cos(3 \pi/7) + \cos(5 \pi/7) = 1/2$
Reference: http://xkcd.com/1047/
We tried various different trigonometric identities. Still no luck.
Geometric interpretation would be also welcome.
EDIT: Very good answers, I'm clearly impressed. ...
12
votes
2answers
485 views
Name of the math movie
Does anyone remember a movie about four mathematicians studying infinity, who ended up committing a suicide? It was aired online somewhere, and I can't find it (it's a documentary, if that helps).
21
votes
17answers
1k views
Mathematical toys?
Anybody know of "serious" mathematical ornaments or toys like the Gömböc,
etc?
Already have a rubix and abacus (that's more of a tool though).
8
votes
2answers
400 views
Motivation for Tom Lehrer's song “Lobachevsky”?
I am trying to understand the motivation for the jingle about plagiarism written by Tom Lehrer. A YouTube version can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL4vWJbwmqM .
Where does history ...
6
votes
0answers
467 views
The maths in “The Amazing Spider Man”
I just saw the trailer for the new Spider Man movie and couldn't help but notice the image after the guy says "How did you come up with this". So here is a transcript (the last part can't be seen):
...
4
votes
2answers
272 views
What is the relationship between the Poisson Distribution and the Monte Carlo Fallacy?
Gravity's Rainbow has this long passage about the Poisson distribution. Since Pynchon's education included a serious dose of mathematics, and his novels include many references to mathematics, I ...
6
votes
1answer
256 views
What interview of G. H. Hardy by P. Erdős does Wikipedia refer to?
Quoting from the Wikipedia article on G. H. Hardy (emphasis mine):
Starting in 1914, he was the mentor of the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, a relationship that has become ...
4
votes
1answer
344 views
A divergent series from Futurama
I was watching Futurama and in a recent episode, the professor creates a duplication machine.
The machine basically took something and then made 2 copies at 60% the size.
Somehow Bender got caught ...
4
votes
5answers
352 views
Mathematician (non-logician) seeks reference for Gödel's incompleteness theorems
I would like to learn more about the proofs of Gödel's incompleteness theorems. I have read and am rereading Gödel's proof by Nagel, Newman, and Hofstadter. I like it very much, but I would like ...
7
votes
1answer
355 views
Numb3rs Challenge
I am by no means a mathmatician. I guess you could say that I am a mathematically inclined individual, but never made anything of it until I was in my 30's and became a software engineer. Although ...
28
votes
3answers
3k views
What is this mathematical equation from Fringe?
The following mathematical equation was shown during the television show Fringe which aired on Friday, April 22nd. Any idea what it is?
(edit by J.M.: for reference, this was Sam Weiss scribbling ...
