8 ms·

Mathematics in Movies

106 points by sciencenut 3y ago

l__l 3y ago
Cool! I love collections like this :) A 10-min format and sort (alphabetical or chronological) would make this so much more scanable though
quadral 3y ago
Is there a similar website for the "hacking" scenes?
- jp0d 3y ago
  Was about to ask that! haha..
- power 3y ago
  You may enjoy https://behind-the-screens.tv/ https://behind-the-screens.tv/
- tinsmith 3y ago
  I did enjoy r/itsaunixsystem on Reddit for many years. A website that collects and maybe analyzes these scenes would be fun. https://www.reddit.com/r/itsaunixsystem/ https://www.reddit.com/r/itsaunixsystem/
- mellosouls 3y ago
  Not sure anything can beat the famous CSI hacking the killers IP address using a VB GUI Interface scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU
  - FeteCommuniste 3y ago
    NCIS with the "two hackers, one keyboard" bit is a good contender: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ
- jonhohle 3y ago
  I remember reading nice write ups about the SSH exploit used in Matrix Reloaded when it was released [0], [1]. 0 - https://www.theregister.com/2003/05/16/matrix_sequel_has_hacker_cred/ https://www.theregister.com/2003/05/16/matrix_sequel_has_hac... 1 - https://nmap.org/movies/ https://nmap.org/movies/
- water-data-dude 3y ago
  This one is my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkkmtkAO4p0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkkmtkAO4p0 Disarming a nuclear bomb with excel
push-to-prod 3y ago
I wonder how many of these have realistic math in them, I suspect it'd be considerably shorter list.
- matt-attack 3y ago
  Basically “what English majors’ idea if math is”.
- raspyberr 3y ago
  I've always considered this to be a pretty accurate scene: https://youtu.be/watch?v=mYAahN1G8Y8 https://youtu.be/watch?v=mYAahN1G8Y8
  - gilleain 3y ago
    Also covered by Mathologer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04x4ZdLpN-0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04x4ZdLpN-0
  - qsort 3y ago
    I haven't seen that movie, but yeah, cringe violin aside, that's both a very realistic example of a simple Olympiad-style problem and an actually valid math proof!
- Syzygies 3y ago
  Yep, but beware of anyone who makes criticism their identity. That's a mindset that predetermines perception. As math consultant to "A Beautiful Mind" I waited six hours so Russell Crowe could ask me where to look when he declared that Jennifer Connelly's solution to the blackboard problem was wrong. He cared about details. Then Jennifer asked me if I was making her look like a yahoo. I explained that in testing a professor had given her answer. Various people get wigged out that the young student in the late library scene was spouting math that was well known. Um, ever been a student? I'd made this same observation to Barry Mazur in the hallway as a student, and he just grinned, "It's all connected!" Meanwhile, no one addressed my partial proof of the Riemann Hypothesis that Nash had left on a board. In the Harvard Lecture Hall scene, Nash compared space-time to the quaternions. Um, he was about to be institutionalized? I knew I had to use this line after the look Brian Greene gave me when I tried it on him. Still, it bothers critics. Ron Howard found it helpful to think of the math as an actor. That was great direction for me.
lukebrichey 3y ago
Had the privilege of Oliver Knill teaching me Multivariable Calculus. It wasn’t my favorite course, but his excitement when he started to talk about math was truly inspiring.
bambax 3y ago
In Cube (1997) the characters are trapped in a labyrinth of sorts made of boxes (cubes) that they can escape by solving math riddles. They're all supposed to be math geniuses, but very early on in the movie they take forever to decide if 645 or 372 are prime numbers... It kind of killed the suspension of disbelief for me right there...
- ak_111 3y ago
  The authors probably didn't meant it, but this is surprisingly realistic of math geniuses (see stories of Grothendieck Prime and Weyl in the following thread) https://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/6358/story-of-grothendiecks-prime-number https://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/6358/story-of-grothe...
  - red_trumpet 3y ago
    Yeah, finding out if a number is prime or not can be unintuitive. But I doubt Grothendieck would have had trouble with anything divisible by 2 or 5...
    - everybodyknows 3y ago
      My math is rusty enough to find it helpful to explicate that 2*5 is the complete factorization to primes of 10, and our customary arithmetic base for numbers written on the page is likewise 10.
  - mock-possum 3y ago
    I like the Einstein quote about the speed of light - some smartass asked him to recite it, and he’s basically like “I don’t memorize trivial information that’s easily looked up in books” Could be totally apocryphal, but I like the sentiment.
    - samstave 3y ago
      >“I don’t memorize trivial information that’s easily looked up in books” holy X I get accused at having a poor memory A LOT!. And I constantly tell people, I have a great memory - there are just things I dont choose to commit to memory. I can tell you every single password I have typed into a machine. FblQ00Ho <--- ix.netcom.com 1996 But I cant tell you WHAT YOU TOLD ME you ate for lunch yesterday and suddenly I am a jerk. "Why cant you recall what I told you yesterday??!?!?!?" UH, because thats ephemeral information I dont need to hold in my head?
dvh 3y ago
Community did the spoof of the good will hunting: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vSkzHJ-6FjU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vSkzHJ-6FjU
- motohagiography 3y ago
  Bit of trivia about Good Will Hunting is that the professor's jealous assistant is played by playwright and mathematician John Mighton, who has had a comment apocryphally attributed to him afterward that the original script was an action flick, and the final version was not-un-influenced by more technical insight that may or may not have involved him. (I don't want to put words in his mouth, but he was the actual mathematician on set) He went on to create a program called Jump Math, which accelerates numeracy in kids. https://jumpmath.org/us/about/john-mighton/ https://jumpmath.org/us/about/john-mighton/
thelastgallon 3y ago
Big Bang Theory seems to have done this right. David Saltzberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles, checked scripts and provided dialogue, mathematics equations, and diagrams used as props.[4] According to executive producer/cocreator Bill Prady, "We're working on giving Sheldon an actual problem that he's going to be working on throughout the [first] season so there's actual progress to the boards ... We worked hard to get all the science right."[5] Saltzberg, who has a Ph.D. in physics, served as the science consultant for the show for six seasons and attended every taping.[23] He saw early versions of scripts that needed scientific information added to them, and he also pointed out where the writers, despite their knowledge of science, had made a mistake. He was usually not needed during a taping unless a lot of science, and especially the whiteboard, was involved: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory
- selykg 3y ago
  This show gets a lot of negativity thrown at it, but damn do I miss this show. Something about it, even in the later seasons which were definitely adjusted for a wider audience it seems, were still very enjoyable for me.
javier_e06 3y ago
In "No Country for Old Men" When Anton finds you and you don't want to die he leaves you with an option: "I'll kill you now or you flip a coin and call it in the air, if you win I'll let you go". Is that really an option? Mathematical Models. Game Theory.
fosterfriends 3y ago
I used to laugh a the "let's enhance" (and still do), but watching generative image models get better, I wonder if fiction will become a reality, abet with lots of hallucinations. At least the enhanced reflections of perpetrators' faces will have a lovely mid-journey art style. classic compilation of "Let's enhance" - https://youtu.be/LhF_56SxrGk https://youtu.be/LhF_56SxrGk
- gilleain 3y ago
  "The eigenvalue is off" was a nice one. Nothing will beat NCIS though - for example where they 'enhanced' a picture where a reflection in an eyeball.
  - rahkiin 3y ago
    Nothing beats NCIS in abusing lack of knowledge around computer and software in the general public: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bwUdjeu4C6A https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bwUdjeu4C6A (getting hacked through a power cable and fighting with 4 hands on a keyboard)
    - sva_ 3y ago
      Create a GUI interface using visual basic to track an IP address https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU
    - wonderwonder 3y ago
      I had never seen this show before and somehow stumbled across the 4 hands on a keyboard episode. It was awesome inspiring how terrible it was
      - danielbln 3y ago
        Rumour is that the script writers tried to outdo themselves in who can slip the most ridiculous tech scenario into an episode.
    - 3y ago
colinwilyb 3y ago
Nice clips, but I really want a math-knowledgeable person to examine and talk about the equations! I love math, just can't seem to grasp it. Going on 40 years now....
taeric 3y ago
I was hoping https://theinfosphere.org/Futurama_theorem https://theinfosphere.org/Futurama_theorem would be mentioned. Only movies counted, I guess? :D
m1kal 3y ago
In "My Little Pony the movie" Twilight Sparkle explains to Celestia and Luna how she wants the Sun and the Moon organized. She uses mathematical formula written on a blackboard. I can't recall what the formula was, probably wavelength calculation.

106 points by sciencenut 3y ago

l__l 3y ago

Cool! I love collections like this :) A 10-min format and sort (alphabetical or chronological) would make this so much more scanable though

quadral 3y ago

Is there a similar website for the "hacking" scenes?

jp0d 3y ago
Was about to ask that! haha..
power 3y ago
You may enjoy https://behind-the-screens.tv/ https://behind-the-screens.tv/
tinsmith 3y ago
I did enjoy r/itsaunixsystem on Reddit for many years. A website that collects and maybe analyzes these scenes would be fun. https://www.reddit.com/r/itsaunixsystem/ https://www.reddit.com/r/itsaunixsystem/
mellosouls 3y ago
Not sure anything can beat the famous CSI hacking the killers IP address using a VB GUI Interface scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU
- FeteCommuniste 3y ago
  NCIS with the "two hackers, one keyboard" bit is a good contender: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ
jonhohle 3y ago
I remember reading nice write ups about the SSH exploit used in Matrix Reloaded when it was released [0], [1]. 0 - https://www.theregister.com/2003/05/16/matrix_sequel_has_hacker_cred/ https://www.theregister.com/2003/05/16/matrix_sequel_has_hac... 1 - https://nmap.org/movies/ https://nmap.org/movies/
water-data-dude 3y ago
This one is my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkkmtkAO4p0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkkmtkAO4p0 Disarming a nuclear bomb with excel

push-to-prod 3y ago

I wonder how many of these have realistic math in them, I suspect it'd be considerably shorter list.

matt-attack 3y ago
Basically “what English majors’ idea if math is”.
raspyberr 3y ago
I've always considered this to be a pretty accurate scene: https://youtu.be/watch?v=mYAahN1G8Y8 https://youtu.be/watch?v=mYAahN1G8Y8
- gilleain 3y ago
  Also covered by Mathologer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04x4ZdLpN-0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04x4ZdLpN-0
- qsort 3y ago
  I haven't seen that movie, but yeah, cringe violin aside, that's both a very realistic example of a simple Olympiad-style problem and an actually valid math proof!
Syzygies 3y ago
Yep, but beware of anyone who makes criticism their identity. That's a mindset that predetermines perception. As math consultant to "A Beautiful Mind" I waited six hours so Russell Crowe could ask me where to look when he declared that Jennifer Connelly's solution to the blackboard problem was wrong. He cared about details. Then Jennifer asked me if I was making her look like a yahoo. I explained that in testing a professor had given her answer. Various people get wigged out that the young student in the late library scene was spouting math that was well known. Um, ever been a student? I'd made this same observation to Barry Mazur in the hallway as a student, and he just grinned, "It's all connected!" Meanwhile, no one addressed my partial proof of the Riemann Hypothesis that Nash had left on a board. In the Harvard Lecture Hall scene, Nash compared space-time to the quaternions. Um, he was about to be institutionalized? I knew I had to use this line after the look Brian Greene gave me when I tried it on him. Still, it bothers critics. Ron Howard found it helpful to think of the math as an actor. That was great direction for me.

lukebrichey 3y ago

Had the privilege of Oliver Knill teaching me Multivariable Calculus. It wasn’t my favorite course, but his excitement when he started to talk about math was truly inspiring.

bambax 3y ago

In Cube (1997) the characters are trapped in a labyrinth of sorts made of boxes (cubes) that they can escape by solving math riddles. They're all supposed to be math geniuses, but very early on in the movie they take forever to decide if 645 or 372 are prime numbers... It kind of killed the suspension of disbelief for me right there...

ak_111 3y ago
The authors probably didn't meant it, but this is surprisingly realistic of math geniuses (see stories of Grothendieck Prime and Weyl in the following thread) https://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/6358/story-of-grothendiecks-prime-number https://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/6358/story-of-grothe...
- red_trumpet 3y ago
  Yeah, finding out if a number is prime or not can be unintuitive. But I doubt Grothendieck would have had trouble with anything divisible by 2 or 5...
  - everybodyknows 3y ago
    My math is rusty enough to find it helpful to explicate that 2*5 is the complete factorization to primes of 10, and our customary arithmetic base for numbers written on the page is likewise 10.
- mock-possum 3y ago
  I like the Einstein quote about the speed of light - some smartass asked him to recite it, and he’s basically like “I don’t memorize trivial information that’s easily looked up in books” Could be totally apocryphal, but I like the sentiment.
  - samstave 3y ago
    >“I don’t memorize trivial information that’s easily looked up in books” holy X I get accused at having a poor memory A LOT!. And I constantly tell people, I have a great memory - there are just things I dont choose to commit to memory. I can tell you every single password I have typed into a machine. FblQ00Ho <--- ix.netcom.com 1996 But I cant tell you WHAT YOU TOLD ME you ate for lunch yesterday and suddenly I am a jerk. "Why cant you recall what I told you yesterday??!?!?!?" UH, because thats ephemeral information I dont need to hold in my head?

dvh 3y ago

Community did the spoof of the good will hunting: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vSkzHJ-6FjU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vSkzHJ-6FjU

motohagiography 3y ago
Bit of trivia about Good Will Hunting is that the professor's jealous assistant is played by playwright and mathematician John Mighton, who has had a comment apocryphally attributed to him afterward that the original script was an action flick, and the final version was not-un-influenced by more technical insight that may or may not have involved him. (I don't want to put words in his mouth, but he was the actual mathematician on set) He went on to create a program called Jump Math, which accelerates numeracy in kids. https://jumpmath.org/us/about/john-mighton/ https://jumpmath.org/us/about/john-mighton/

thelastgallon 3y ago

Big Bang Theory seems to have done this right. David Saltzberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles, checked scripts and provided dialogue, mathematics equations, and diagrams used as props.[4] According to executive producer/cocreator Bill Prady, "We're working on giving Sheldon an actual problem that he's going to be working on throughout the [first] season so there's actual progress to the boards ... We worked hard to get all the science right."[5] Saltzberg, who has a Ph.D. in physics, served as the science consultant for the show for six seasons and attended every taping.[23] He saw early versions of scripts that needed scientific information added to them, and he also pointed out where the writers, despite their knowledge of science, had made a mistake. He was usually not needed during a taping unless a lot of science, and especially the whiteboard, was involved: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory

selykg 3y ago
This show gets a lot of negativity thrown at it, but damn do I miss this show. Something about it, even in the later seasons which were definitely adjusted for a wider audience it seems, were still very enjoyable for me.

javier_e06 3y ago

In "No Country for Old Men" When Anton finds you and you don't want to die he leaves you with an option: "I'll kill you now or you flip a coin and call it in the air, if you win I'll let you go". Is that really an option? Mathematical Models. Game Theory.

fosterfriends 3y ago

I used to laugh a the "let's enhance" (and still do), but watching generative image models get better, I wonder if fiction will become a reality, abet with lots of hallucinations. At least the enhanced reflections of perpetrators' faces will have a lovely mid-journey art style. classic compilation of "Let's enhance" - https://youtu.be/LhF_56SxrGk https://youtu.be/LhF_56SxrGk

gilleain 3y ago
"The eigenvalue is off" was a nice one. Nothing will beat NCIS though - for example where they 'enhanced' a picture where a reflection in an eyeball.
- rahkiin 3y ago
  Nothing beats NCIS in abusing lack of knowledge around computer and software in the general public: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bwUdjeu4C6A https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bwUdjeu4C6A (getting hacked through a power cable and fighting with 4 hands on a keyboard)
  - sva_ 3y ago
    Create a GUI interface using visual basic to track an IP address https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU
  - wonderwonder 3y ago
    I had never seen this show before and somehow stumbled across the 4 hands on a keyboard episode. It was awesome inspiring how terrible it was
    - danielbln 3y ago
      Rumour is that the script writers tried to outdo themselves in who can slip the most ridiculous tech scenario into an episode.
  - 3y ago

colinwilyb 3y ago

Nice clips, but I really want a math-knowledgeable person to examine and talk about the equations! I love math, just can't seem to grasp it. Going on 40 years now....

taeric 3y ago

I was hoping https://theinfosphere.org/Futurama_theorem https://theinfosphere.org/Futurama_theorem would be mentioned. Only movies counted, I guess? :D

m1kal 3y ago

In "My Little Pony the movie" Twilight Sparkle explains to Celestia and Luna how she wants the Sun and the Moon organized. She uses mathematical formula written on a blackboard. I can't recall what the formula was, probably wavelength calculation.