Math and the Movies!
Resource List and Worksheets for Movie Clips

Throughout our years of teaching we have used (and continue to use) movie clips in our classrooms to enhance content and engage our students.  This listing is a sample of the types of movies we find useful.  The accompanying worksheets are our mathematical interpretations and applications of information presented in these clips.  Obviously, other interpretations are also possible.  These materials were designed to enhance content across the secondary mathematics curricula.  Our personal "mathematical" movie library contains purchased copies, in either VHS or DVD format, of all of the movies mentioned here.       (Fred and Donna Roberts, MathBits.com)

 

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Notice:  While these resources are offered free of charge as educational materials for the  mathematics classroom, they are NOT public domain.  Please read the terms of use.

It is our understanding that it is an infringement of copyright law to post movie clips of any length to the internet.  If you know otherwise, please let us know.  Roberts@mathbits.com

DVD and VHS box pictures are of the movie packages owned by Fred and Donna.  While some of the boxes are from  "collection" sets or "special" editions, these movies can also be purchased as single copies.
Purchase movies (new or used) on-line at locations such as Amazon.com.


With two exceptions, all worksheets are graphing calculator active (both TI-83+/84+ and Nspire).
Links to other sites were current as of May, 2008.


"Math and the Movies" Part One
Abbott and Costello
 
Strip Abbott and Costello: In the Navy  (1941 – Universal Studios)
Comedians, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, have joined the Navy.  Lou is attempting to make seven batches of thirteen donuts each for the Naval officers.  He cooks 28 donuts, claiming that
7 x 13 = 28.  Lou shows in three different ways that his mathematics is correct.
On-line clip at: http://www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/mathmovies/
MathBits’ Worksheet:   A “what went wrong?” scenario; examinations of division,
     multiplication and addition; algebraic investigations to disprove Lou’s conjectures.
 
Ma and Pa Kettle
 
strip Ma & Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1951 – Universal Studios)
Ma and Pa Kettle display their skills with finances by showing that 25 divided by 5 is 14.
(same scenario as the Abbott and Costello routine).
On-line clip at Google: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7106559846794044495
Many on-line excerpts available -- search Google for “Ma and Pa Kettle Math”
(no additional worksheet provided since the routine is the same as Abbott and Costello)

 

Alice in Wonderland
 
strip Alice in Wonderland (1999 – Lions Gate Studio – made for TV)
Actors star in a combined version of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" in a three-hour made for TV special that contains many of the mathematical antics of its author.  A discussion at the Mad Hatter's tea party focuses on statements and converses.
MathBits’ Worksheet:  Working with inverse, converse, contrapositive and their truth values. Also an investigation of truth values on the graphing calculator.

 
Contact
 
strip Contact (1997 – Warner Home Video)
Contact, based on the novel by astronomer Carl Sagan, is the story of a free thinking radio
astronomer who discovers an intelligent signal broadcast from deep space. Mathematics
is seen as the means of communication with an alien civilization (through prime numbers).
MathBits’ Worksheet: Sieve of Eratosthenes, Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic, Twin
Primes, Germain Primes, Relatively Prime, E-commerce encryption using primes.  Graphing calculator used for computations and investigations.

 
Numbers
 
Numbers

strip Numb3rs  (TV Series)
FBI Agent Don Eppes and his brother, Charlie Eppes, (a brilliant mathematician) team up to solve crimes with the assistance of mathematics.  Based upon true cases.

DVD - The Complete First Season (2005 – Paramount Home Video)

DVD - The Complete Second Season (2006 – Paramount Home Video)

At Amazon.com - download individual episodes for $1.99

On-line clips free for seasons 1, 2, and 3:  http://numb3rs-online.net/wp/?page_id=19

TI and CBS classroom free activities for seasons 1, 2, and 3:  http://www.weallusematheveryday.com/tools/waumed/home.htm


 

Donald in MathMagicLand
 
strip Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959 – Buena Vista Home Video)
Disney’s Donald Duck has a series of adventures dealing with mathematics, including discoveries about the Golden Ratio.
On-line clip and teacher guide at: 
http://dep.disney.go.com/educational/store/detail?fromsearch=1&product_id=77A83VL00
MathBits’ Worksheet:  Constructing a golden rectangle; investigating the golden rectangle's connection to quadratics using algebra and the graphing calculator; and investigating the golden rectangle and the Pythagorean theorem.
 
Lucy
 
strip I Love Lucy: Episode 39: “Job Switching“ or “The Candy Factory” (1952 – Paramount Studios)
Lucy and Ethel take a job at a candy factory and deal with candies on a conveyor belt.  The pattern in which the candies move along the conveyor belt is the focus of this clip.
On-line clip at Google:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2151128672389072724&q=I+love+lucy
MathBits’ Worksheet:   Dealing with patterns and sequences, average daily inventory.  Graphing calculator used for investigative analysis.
 
Star Wars
 
strip Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace
(1999 – 20th Century Fox)

This is the first episode of the adventures of young Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader).
The famous pod race at Mos Espa Arena circuit weaves through a flat-topped mountain called Ben’s Mesa.  Here is where young Anakin Skywalker wins the Boonta Eve Classic Podrace.  The map of the pod race circuit and locations along the track are the focus of this mathematical investigation.
MathBits’ Worksheet:  Law of sines, Law of cosines.  Graphing calculator used for computation and investigation.
 
Star Trek
 
strip Star Trek -The Original Series, Vol. 21, Episodes 42:
The Trouble With Tribbles  (1966 – Paramount Studios)
Tribbles are cute, furry little creatures in the Star Trek world. Being Hermaphrodites (both male and female), a tribble can produce a litter of 10 babies every 12 hours, assuming none die. One tribble is trapped in the grain hold for 3 days.  Spock proclaims that there are now 1,771,561 tribbles.
MathBits’ Worksheet 1:   Population growth, exponential regressions examined on the graphing calculator.
MathBits’ Worksheet 2:   Measurement and volume.  Graphing calculator used for computation and investigation.
 
Englishman
 
strip The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995 – Walt Disney Video)
An English cartographer tells a Welsh village that their mountain is only a hill.  The villagers struggle to raise the height of the mountain.  The mathematics deals with triangulation.
MathBits’ Worksheet:   Trigonometry, Law of Sines, Proportions in Similar Triangles.  Graphing calculator used for computation and investigation.

 
IQ
 
strip I.Q. (1994 – Paramount Studios)
Albert Einstein comes to the aid of a young garage mechanic (who has fallen in love with
Einstein’s mathematically brilliant niece), by helping him to pretend to be a great physicist.   The clip deals with Zeno's Paradox.
MathBits’ Worksheet:   Zeno’s Paradox, Introduction to sum of infinite series as developed on the graphing calculator.

 

Matrix
 
strip The Matrix Revolutions (2003 – Warner Home Video)
Neo and the others try to save Zion, the last real-world city and the center of the human
resistance. Neo has confrontations with Agent Smith and his numerous replicas (transformations).
MathBits’ Worksheet:  Transformations, glide reflections, composition of transformations,
use of graphing calculator with transformations in addition to graph paper work.



 

Die Hard
 
strip Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995 – 20th Century Fox)
Detective John McClane and Zeus battle against a villain playing a game of “Simon Says.”  The heroes try to defuse a bomb by solving a puzzle.
MathBits’ Worksheet:   Logical reasoning, volume.  Calculator used for computation.




 
October Sky
 
strip October Sky (1999 – Universal Studios)
The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son, who was inspired by the first
Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.  Homer uses mathematics to prove that his rocket did not set a fire.   Homer Hickam became a NASA engineer.
MathBits’ Worksheet:  Parabolas, quadratics equations, projectile motion.  Graphing calculator used to display graphical representations of situations and for investigation.


 

Proof
 
strip Proof (2005 Miramax Studios)
The daughter of a brilliant, but mentally disturbed, mathematician fears that she has inherited his insanity.  While the movie is a rather somber episode, it has a humorous reference to a musical score of the imaginary i.
MathBits’ Worksheet:  Working with the imaginary i.  Graphing calculator used for computation.


 
Castaway
 
strip Castaway (2000 – 20th Century Fox)
Chuck Nolan, a FedEx engineer, struggles to survive on an isolated tropical island after a plane crash.  In a discussion with his inanimate volleyball companion, Wilson, he laments the possibility of their rescue, based upon his mathematical calculations.
MathBits’ Worksheet:   Area and circumference of a circle, airplane distances.  Calculator used for computation.

 
Stand and Deliver
 
strip Stand and Deliver (1988 Warner Home Video)
Teacher Jaime Escalante encourages his Hispanic students to take the Advanced Place Calculus test.  The students display their courage and strength when asked to re-take the exam.  Actual exam questions are shown.
MathBits’ Worksheet:  Getting ready for the AP Calculus Exam, word problem on
applied derivatives.  Graphing calculator used for computation and analysis.

Note:
 The actual 1982 AP Calculus question that caused the controversy regarding Escalante's students cannot be posted on the internet.
 
Wizard of Oz
strip The Wizard of Oz (1939 – Warner Home Video)
This is the tale of Dorothy's adventures in Oz with her friends the lion, the scarecrow and the tin man.  The group searches for the Wizard who will solve all of their problems.  The scarecrow makes a questionable mathematical statement.
MathBits’ Worksheet:  Dealing with triangles, triangle inequalities, Pythagorean
Theorem, indirect algebraic proof.  Graphing calculator used for computation.

Note: 
See Mathematics Teacher, February, 1987, pgs. 100-101 for an interesting article entitled "Two Views of Oz" by John Pancari and John Pace regarding the scarecrow's theorem.


"Math and the Movies" Part Two


N
ew Additions - not yet included in the PowerPoint presentation: 
harry potter

 

 

strip  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
(2002 – Warner Home Video)
Harry Potter and Hermione Granger are trapped in a room with two exits blocked by flames.  To survive, they must solve a logic puzzle.  While this scene does not appear in the movie, it does appear in the book.  The movie can be used as an introduction to where the scene from the book would occur.
MathBits’ Worksheet: 
Logical reasoning.

Harry Potter Book

Book, 1998,
page 285

Worksheet ANSWERS:  Teachers have requested that the answers not be posted for student access.
If a teacher e-mails from a school e-mail address, answers to requested questions will be supplied.
(The answers to the NUMB3RS activities are supplied with those worksheets.)

strip

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