Mathematics in cinema Part 2

The dam busters (1955) On the use of Congruent triangles to measure distances. Also some applied math problems on bouncing balls on water and detonations in water. The British are desperate to shorten the length of WW2 and propose a daring raid to smash Germany's industrial heart. At first the objective looks impossible until a British scientist invents an ingenious weapon capable of destroying the planned target.

Artificial Intelligence (2001) About the fabric of space time and how humans have tried to find the meaning of life in art, poetry or mathematical formulas.

The hangover (2009) Mathematical thoughts of Allen, when winning at Vegas: from simple arithmetics to Fourier theory. How many formulas can you identify? The plot follows four friends who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, only to wake up the next morning not remembering a thing and missing the groom, whose wedding is scheduled to occur the next day. The film was inspired by the filmmakers' real-life misadventures

Star trek (2009) Young Spock learns Math. He memorizes the formula (4pi/3) r3 for the volume of the sphere, the square root of 2396324 and the definition of dimensionality log(n)/log(d).

Old school(2003) This comedy not only shows shots of Harvard college but also some rather tough math test problems: like Harriet's method of solving cubics, Diophantine equations or integration problems.

The code conspiracy(2002) The ulam prime spiral appears. One could overlook that almost nothing connected with codes, physics or math does make sense in this movie, but that the blue picture of the Ulam spiral is fake is slightly annoying. What if a computer disc held a code so powerful that it could change the world forever? While translating the Dead Sea Scrolls, a professor discovers a hidden formula that not only unlocks all known computer encryption, but also scientifically proves the existence of God!

It’s my turn A lecture on the Snake lemma in homological algebra in which a student pretends to know things better. A successful but stressed mathematics professor (Clayburgh) goes to her father's wedding and falls in love with her father's bride's son (Douglas), a prematurely retired pro baseball player. She must choose between him and her current boyfriend (Grodin), between Chicago and New York, and between research and administration.

Sneakers (1992) A lecture on computational number theory. A method superior to the number field sieve is announced. The mathematician Len Adleman advised on the making of this move. Freelance spies track down an all powerful code breaking chip developed by a mysteriously funded mathematician named Gunter Janek. In a brief scene, the long-haired, white-suited Janek lectures on the possibility of finding a faster way to factor numbers, shouting lots of big math words, but not really explaining anything. Still, the film correctly points out that a breakthrough in factoring could happen and would be worth a lot to criminals and people who break codes.

Straw dogs (1971) A blackboard with mathematical astrophysical formulas. Upon moving to Britain to get away from American violence, astrophysicist David Sumner and his wife Amy are bullied and taken advantage of by the locals hired to do construction. When David finally takes a stand it escalates quickly into a bloody battle as the locals assault his house.

Donald in Mathemagic Land (1959) Disney used animation here to explain through this wonderful adventure of Donald how math3matics can be useful in our real life. Through this journey Donald shows us how mathematics are not just numbers and charts, but magical living things