By Brittany Whitfield
Watching math movies are sometime boring, so I went on a
search for a math movie that was both entertaining and educating. What I found
was a corky little movie with a Disney title: Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land (1959). This movie is about 27
minutes long and worth the watch. We find Donald on a journey through math
explorations from the history of Pythagoras to conic section, as well as many
other topics. The film applies mathematic concepts to common use items.
Topics shown in the video:
·
Pi
·
Pythagoras’ Contributions to Mathematics
·
Origin of Musical Scales
·
Special properties of Pentagrams
·
Golden Sections
·
Golden Rectangle
·
Golden Ratio
·
Archimedes Spiral
·
Ancient Architecture
·
Math in Art
·
Math in Nature
·
Mathematics of games
·
Mental math
·
Geometry
·
Conic Sections
·
Infinity
The blog ends with the quote:
“Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the
universe.” –Galileo
Although this movie may not dive into the concepts deeply,
its brief mention of concepts revitalizes a youthful interest in mathematics
that I began to feel I lost. Sometimes, in the upper levels of math, the need
to explore certain concepts deeply wears on the student mind; however, Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land lightens
the rigor, if only for a moment. It is a fun film to watch even if it is geared
toward adolescents. So relax for a while and watch Donald explore math topics
in a light way. I walked away from the video repeating to myself, “What luck
for the Duck.”
To view the video, click on the link to youtube below:
