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Mathematics in Movies

people.math.harvard.edu

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Re: Mathematics in Movies

#51

Post by c22 »

bambax wrote: post #9

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...

Were they all supposed to be math geniuses? It's been a long time since I watched it but I recall just one math genius then a doctor, a police officer, an architect, a convict, and an autistic savant (who may have also been a math genius but was non-verbal?). I don't remember it being implied that the other characters were particularly mathematical.

Re: Mathematics in Movies

#52

Post by hgsgm »

rahkiin wrote: post #26
gilleain wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

Nothing beats NCIS in abusing lack of knowledge around computer and software in the general public: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bwUdjeu4C6A (getting hacked through a power cable and fighting with 4 hands on a keyboard)

Nowadays power cables are USB and definitely a threat vector.

NCIS was scifi ahead of its time.

Re: Mathematics in Movies

#53

Post by mock-possum »

ak_111 wrote: post #14
bambax wrote: post #9

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...

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-grothe...

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.

Re: Mathematics in Movies

#55

Post by samstave »

mock-possum wrote: post #53
ak_111 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-grothe...

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.

>“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 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?

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