Top Five Math Movies

Top Five Math Movies

March is the home of Pi Day (March 14), and because of that I decided to make my top five list math related this month. So, I am unveiling my top five math movies.

Now, finding a movie 100 percent centered on math would be a feat, let alone finding five. So, the criteria are a bit different than one may think. First, the movie must have at least one scene dedicated to math (“math” being anything as simple as counting to as difficult as fractals). The amount of math present in the film will affect my judgment, but more important is how well I feel the film uses the math it contains. Essentially, I believe quality out ranks quantity. Second, I must like the movie. So, if I like one movie more than the other, there will be a bias. These two criteria will be balanced, and the movie will be placed accordingly. So, without further adieu, here are my top five math movies.

5. “Cast Away”(2000)- Imagine being stranded on a deserted island. You have some meager supplies, but not enough to live comfortably. Due to this crash you’ve lost the person you loved, the job you excelled at and your entire life as you knew it. Even though your life has been ripped apart, you know what you still have? Math. That’s what Tom Hanks showed us in “Cast Away.” To get some bearing on his predicament, he worked out on a rock the approximate size of the search area people would be looking. Now, he didn’t come up with very good news, but it goes on show that whether you are a systems analyst or a stranded person on an island, math will always be there. Clip!

4. “Stand and Deliver” (1988)- Maybe it is my father rubbing off on me, but I am a sucker for sentimental movies. This goes especially for inspiring sentimental movies. Films like “Remember the Titans,” “Lean on Me” and “The Dead Poets Society” all pull my strings when I watch them. However, “Stand and Deliver” is unique among these gushy films for the fact it deals with math. In this “based on a true story” film, the teacher took a group of students who started off not even knowing about positive and negative integers and raised them up to compete in and win a nation-wide calculus competition. The film isn’t only motivational in the sense that these kids grew so much, but because it shows that minorities in poor neighborhoods are capable of doing the same things middle-class white kids can. Clip!

3. “A Beautiful Mind” (2001)- When I think of a mathematician, I think of some old guy with glasses and a monotonous voice. Virtually, I imagine Ben Stein. What I do not think of is a man with schizophrenia who thought he was doing clandestine work for a government entity. This was the semi-true story of Nobel Prize winner John Nash. You can’t do much to spice up mathematics, but having the protagonist see and communicate with imaginary people is definitely a way to garner interest in the movie. And while John Nash was a bit more interesting than Ben Stein, he was a bit more realistic than having Samuel L. Jackson play a mathematician. Clip!

2. “Jurassic Park” (1993)- Who wouldn’t want to go to an amusement park with dinosaurs? Even after watching this movie, I’d still go. But in spite of my childlike enthusiasm, I would still consider the consequences as pointed out by Ian Malcolm in the film. Malcolm, the rockstar-like scientist, used chaos theory to explain why the park would fail. He tried to tell them that the behavior of certain dynamical systems that exhibit dynamics that are highly sensitive to initial conditions could be dangerous. I mean, duh. However, did anybody listen to him? No, and because of that people were eaten by dinosaurs. That’s chaos, baby. Clip!

1. “Die Hard With a Vengeance” (1995)- What do you expect from action movies? Do you imagine shoot-outs, car chases, fists being thrown and explosions? Well, you know what “Die Hard With a Vengeance” gave you? Math problems. It had all of that other stuff, too, but it was the word problems and brainteasers that stood out. Don’t get me wrong, these weren’t riddles that would make MENSA members scratch their heads, but they were smart enough for most audiences. On the difficulty range they landed past “easy” but before “impossible to figure out,” which allowed the viewers to participate in the problem solving. And, really, that’s what math in a movie should do. Instead of being passive, the audience should be engaged in the moment and try to help the protagonist. Any movie that blatantly encourages the audience to use their gray matter deserves the number one spot on my list. Clip!