Mathematics in Popular Culture: Essays on Appearances in Film, Fiction, Games, Television and Other Media

by Jessica K. Sklar (Editor), Elizabeth S. Sklar (Editor)

Overview

Mathematics has maintained a surprising presence in popular media for over a century. In recent years, the movies Good Will Hunting, A Beautiful Mind, and Stand and Deliver, the stage plays Breaking the Code and Proof, the novella Flatland and the hugely successful television crime series NUMB3RS all weave mathematics prominently into their storylines. Less obvious but pivotal references to the subject appear in the blockbuster TV show Lost, the cult movie The Princess Bride, and even Tolstoy's War and Peace.

In this collection of new essays, contributors consider the role of math in everything from films, baseball, crossword puzzles, fantasy role-playing games, and television shows to science fiction tales, award-winning plays and classic works of literature. Revealing the broad range of intersections between mathematics and mainstream culture, this collection demonstrates that even "mass entertainment" can have a hidden depth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786449781
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	03/14/2012
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	353
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jessica K. Sklar, an associate professor of mathematics at Pacific Lutheran University, has published in the field of noncommutative ring theory and in the more readily accessible field of recreational mathematics. Elizabeth S. Sklar, a professor emerita at Wayne State University, specializes in Old and Middle English language and literature. She has published extensively in the fields of modern and medieval Arthurian legend.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi

Foreword Keith Devlin 1

Introduction Jessica K. Sklar Elizabeth S. Sklar 3

Part 1 The Game

A Survey of Fictional Mathematics in Literature Alex Kasman 9

"You Never Said Anything about Math": Math Phobia and Math Fanaticism in the World of Lost Kristine Larsen 27

What's in a Name? The Matrix as an Introduction to Mathematics Kris Green

44

Mapping Contagion and Disease, Catastrophe and Destruction: Computer Modeling in the Epidemiological Disaster Narrative Kathleen Coyne Kelly Douglas Whittington 55

Fair and Unfair Division in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon William Goldbloom Bloch Michael D. C. Drout 71

Game Theory in Popular Culture: Battles of Wits and Matters of Trust Jennifer Firkins Nordstrom 86

Coming Out of the Dungeon: Mathematics and Role-Playing Games Kris Green 99

Playing Moneyball: Math and Baseball Jeff Hildebrand 114

A Mathematician Does the New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle Gene Abrams 123

Part 2 The Players

XKCD: A Web of Popular Culture Karen Burnham 137

Counting with the Sharks: Math-Savvy Gamblers in Popular Culture Matthew Lane 148

Stand and Deliver Twenty Years Later Ksenija Simic-Muller Maura Varley Gutierrez Rodrigo Jorge Gutierrez 163

Smart Girls: The Uncanny Daughters of Arcadia and Proof Sharon Alker Roberta Davidson 172

Mean Girls: A Metamorphosis of the Female Math Nerd Kristin Rowan 187

The Mathematical Misanthrope and American Popular Culture Kenneth Faulkner 198

Alan Turing: Reflecting on the Life, Work, and Popular Representations of a Queer Mathematician K. G. Valente 219

Mat(t)h Anxiety: Math as Symptom in Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting Donald L. Hoffman 233

Part 3 Math + Metaphor

Thinking Outside the Box: Application Versus Discovery in Saw and Cube Jessica K. Sklar 247

Tolstoy's Integration Metaphor from War and Peace Stephen T. Ahearn 258

"We'll all change together": Mathematics as Metaphor in Greg Egan's Fiction Neil Easterbrook 265

Truth by the Numbers: Mysticism and Madness in Darren Aronofsky's π Laurie A. Finke Martin B. Shichtman 274

Flatland in Popular Culture Lila Marz Harper 288

Discovering a Higher Plane: Dimensionality and Enlightenment in Flatland and Diaspora Chris Pak 304

Projective Geometry in Early Twentieth-Century Esotericism: From the Anthroposophical Society to the Thoth Tarot Richard Kaczynski 314

Appendices

A Mathematics in Performance Media 333

B Mathematics in Fiction and Poetry 334

About the Contributors 337

Index 341

Editorial Reviews

a fun read, accessible to all...recommended”—Choice; “I was fascinated by the facts”—AWM Newsletter.

From the Publisher

"I was fascinated by the facts"

AWM Newsletter

a fun read, accessible to all...recommended

Choice