Mathematics in popular culture
Subtitle: essays on appearances in film, fiction, games, television and other media
By: edited by Jessica K. Sklar and Elizabeth S. Sklar ; foreword by Keith Devlin
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Jefferson, N.C
Language: eng
Number of pages: 345
ISBN-13: 9780786449781
Subjects: Popular culture; Mass media and culture; Mathematics in mass media
Description: "In this compendium, contributors consider the role of math in blockbuster 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. "--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction / Jessica K. Sklar and Elizabeth S. Sklar; title: The Game. A Survey of Fictional Mathematics in Literature / Alex Kasman; title: "You Never Said Anything About Math": Math Phobia and Math. Fanaticism in the World of Lost / Kristine Larsen; title: What's in a name? The Matrix as an Introduction to Mathematics / Kris H. Green; title: Computer Modeling in the Epidemiological Disaster Narrative : Mapping Contagion and Disease, Catastrophe and Destruction / Kathleen Coyne Kelly and Douglas Whittington; title: Fair and Unfair Division in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon / Michael D. C. Drout and William Goldbloom Bloch; title: Game Theory in Popular Culture: Battles of Wits and Matters of Trust / Jennifer Firkins Nordstrom; title: Coming Out of the Dungeon: Mathematics and Role-Playing Games / Kris H. Green; title: Playing Moneyball: Math and Baseball / Jeff Hildebrand; title: A Mathematician Does the New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle / Gene Abrams; title: The Players. XKCD: A Web of Popular Culture / Karen Burnham; title: Counting with the Sharks: Math-Savvy Gamblers in Popular Culture / Matthew Lane; title: Stand and Deliver Twenty Years Later / Ksenija Simic-Muller, Maura Varley Gutierrez and Rodrigo Jorge Gutierrez; title: Smart Girls: The Uncanny Daughters of Arcadia and Proof / Sharon Alker and Roberta Davidson; title: Mean Girls: A Metamorphosis of the Female Math Nerd / Kristin Rowan; title: The Mathematical Misanthrope and American Popular Culture / Kenneth Faulkner; title: Alan Turing: Reflecting on the Life, Work, and Popular Representations of a Queer Mathematician /  K.G. Vale; title: Mat(t)h Anxiety: Math as Symptom in Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting / Donald l. Hoffman; title: Math + Metaphor. Thinking Outside the Box: Application Versus Discovery in Saw and Cube / Jessica K. Sklar; title: Tolstoy's Integration Metaphor from War and Peace / Stephen T. Ahearn; title: "We'll All Change Together": Mathematics as Metaphor in Greg Egan's Fiction / Neil Easterbrook; title: Truth by the Numbers: Mysticism and Madness in Darren Aronofsky's 1 / Laurie A. Finke and Martin B. Shichtman; title: Flatland in Popular Culture / Lila Marz Harper; title: Discovering a Higher Plane: Dimensionality and Enlightenment in Flatland and Diaspora / Chris Pak; title: Projective Geometry in Early Twentieth Century Esotericism: From the Anthroposophical Society to the Thoth Tarot / Richard Kaczynski.