Math in the Media

Mathematics shows up a surprising amount in movie theaters and on the T.V. screen.  There are obvious examples of movies that revolve around brilliant mathematicians such as: Beautiful Mind, Good Will Hunting, and Imitation Game (all of which are brilliant movies in my opinion) and T.V. series such as Touch and Numb3rs.

Now if film-makers are designing these films to only appeal to math majors these films would surely not perform well at the box office, so it appears as if math has a much more universal appeal to people.  I'm not saying that everyone enjoys mathematics in highschool, in fact I would say the majority are opposed to it.  I put part of the blame on the how math subjects are taught, but little is given to math appreciation.  Students aren't presented with the mystery of math: "how can the phenomenon of the natural world be modeled with elegant equations?".  On the contrary to the classroom, the theater presents a different perspective on math.
   
Many a math-fan will argue that math itself is an art.  Unlike many other arts, a mathematician does not create his/her art, but merely discovers it.  The beautiful equations already exist, they were created long ago by the most brilliant Mathematician ever.  Some film-makers tap into the beauty and mystery associated with math and attempt to design films around that encompass this.


via GIPHY

Even if you're not watching a film explicitly about mathematicians, it is very likely that some math is snuck into the plot.  The following website presents short clips of where and how math shows up in many films. http://www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/mathmovies/