Two Stunning Mathematical Documentaries | Math ∞ Weblog

Two stunning mathematical documentaries are “Fermat’s Final Theorem” and “Harmful Information”. Each take a well-liked science fashion method to describing compelling and emotional tales about nice mathematicians.

The primary narrates the story of Andrew Wiles, who proved Fermat’s final theorem in 1994. It’s a comparatively brief documentary, coming in at about 45 minutes, however I discover it to be each inspiring and a pleasant support to raised understanding Andrew “as an individual”, earlier than considering of him as an excellent mathematician. This documentary relies on Simon Singh’s glorious guide
Fermat’s Enigma: The Epic Quest to Remedy the World’s Best Mathematical Drawback.

The second documentary focuses on the obsessive quest for data shared by Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing. The fundamental thought behind “Harmful Information” is that the genius of those excellent mathematicians and their obsession finally result in their insanity and tragic deaths. In reality, I really feel that the underlying thread that tries to tie the 4 tales collectively is compelled.

For instance, Alan Turing was persecuted for his homosexuality, and it’s believed that this had a major affect on his eventual suicide. The filmmakers try to steer the viewers to return to the sure conclusion that the search for understanding infinity is what led these mathematicians to madness, which is completely unsupported. However, in the event you’re conscious of the agenda behind this movie, you’ll get a gorgeous 1h 29m documentary that’s completely price watching. It poses attention-grabbing questions concerning the nature of data, our understanding of nature, and different puzzling dilemmas that embody arithmetic, physics and philosophy.

What different mathematical documentaries are you keen on? If varied titles are recommended, we may positively begin a pleasant must-watch math documentary listing right here on Math-Weblog.com.