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Popular Math: Two Thumbs Up (April 29, 2005, Two)

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Program Summary

Math is cool. What, you never thought you’d see “math” and “cool” in the same sentence? You and millions of other people regard math as something to be avoided like the plague. But math IS cool if you understand it, say Ira’s guests, and cool math is starring these days in hit movies (“Beautiful Mind” and “Good Will Hunting”) and TV shows (“Numb3ers,” “The Simpsons,” “Futurama,” and “CSI”).

Like it or not, we are surrounded by math, and we use it every day – figuring out your car’s miles per gallon, deciding what’s a better bargain at the grocery store, balancing your checkbook. Mathematicians are thrilled that it is being portrayed accurately and in such a positive light. Some teachers are even using the television shows to make the subject less intimidating to students and play up its relevance. But whether or not kids will give up their aspirations of movie stardom, professional sports, or other careers to become math magicians, well, that remains to be seen.

Guests

Keith Devlin, author of "The Math Instinct: Why You're a Mathematical Genius (Along with Lobsters, Birds, Cats, and Dogs)" (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005); director of the Center for the Study of Language and Information and consulting professor at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California

Robert Osserman, professor emeritus at Stanford University and special projects director at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California

Sarah Greenwald, associate professor of mathematics at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina

Gary Lorden, math technical consultant for 'Numb3rs'; professor of mathematics and executive officer of mathematics at the California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California

Related Links and Resources

CBS.com - Numb3rs
Futurama Àk - Mathematics in the Year 3000
Mathematical Association of America, February 2005: NUMB3RS gets the math right
Mathematical Association of America, April 2005: What does "DOING MATH" mean?
National Public Radio, January 22, 2005: Math and Crime: Solving by the ' Numb3rs '
Simpsonsmath.com
TheSimpsons.com

For Discussion:

• In what ways do you and your family use math in daily life?
• What do you do when a math problem is being done on a TV show – do you pay attention or do you zone out?
• Why do you think people are “afraid” of math?
• Do you think the movies and TV shows that feature math will make it seem less difficult and get more people interested in it?

Activities

Parlais vous math? Lost in Translation, a lesson plan from the New York Times Learning Network, contemplates the role of math in our daily lives, why math could be considered a language, and how to make a math concept intelligible to a layperson. Students brainstorm to create a list of ways in which they consciously use math every day, then create a brochure that explains a math or physics problem with art and words.

R dr r. Get the joke at Simpsonsmath.com, a Web site that indexes the mathematical references on “The Simpsons” (R dr r = har dee har har). The site also provides fun activity sheets for some of the math problems mentioned on the show, as does Futurama Àk - Mathematics in the Year 3000.

And the Oscar goes to... Explore the nominees for Best Supporting Mathemathics at Math in the Movies. For one week, have students record and discuss references to and uses of math concepts on the television shows of movie videos they watch.

Use the search box below to perform a Google search within any of the specifc sites or general domains mentioned in this Activities section.

Hear the Program

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