Math Clips

Movie Maths Clips

by Burkard Polster and Marty Ross

These pages complement our list of movies featuring mathematics. If you enjoy such clips, check out the wonderful collection being compiled by Oliver Knill.

The Ice Storm (1997) IMDB. A very insightful kid.

Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959) IMDB. A strange creature has a strange notion of π.

Criminal Minds: Masterpiece (2008) IMDB. Kidnapping, with an elegant golden ratio touch.

Omar Khayyam (1957) IMDB. A great mathematician, Hollywood style.

The Simpsons: Bart Gets a Z (1988) IMDB. Bart and Milhouse get a lesson in times tables.

My Stepmother is an Alien (1988) IMDB. An alien explains her alien ways.

Jason X (2001). A cute way to fix the odds.

Infinity (2012). A cool short film by VCE student Elizabeth Duong.

That Mitchell and Webb Look: 2.1 (2008) IMDB. A movie we'd like to see.

That Mitchell and Webb Look: 2.6 (2008) IMDB. The history of the greatest game show of all time.

The Daily Show: 18.21 (2012) IMDB. Jon Stewart and Nate Silver engage in a little post-election gloating.

The Colbert Report: 8.120 (2012) IMDB. Stephen Colbert ponders Republican maths (and our column).

Breaking the Code (1996) IMDB. The Enigma machine, and the way to beat it (and our column).

Hans Christian Andersen (1952) IMDB. Maths classes look like such fun!

Marius (1953) IMDB. The strange mathematics of mixing drinks (and our column).

The Abbott and Costello Show: 1.19 (1953) IMDB. In Australian education, everyone gets the third banana.

That Mitchell and Webb Look: 1.1 (2006) IMDB. The greatest game show of all time?

Paint Your Wagon (1969) IMDB. A clip indicative of the fine work your Maths Masters do with children (at least according to Senator X) (and our column).

The Daily Show: 17.149 (2012) IMDB. Bill Clinton gives the Republicans a maths lesson.

S4 (2008) IMDB. We like irrationals too, but not that much.

Doctor Who 2005: 42 (2007) IMDB. You never know when you'll need some recreational mathematics.

The Colbert Report: 2.108 (2006) IMDB. Stephen Colbert investigates the world of donuts (and our column).

Blackadder II: Head (1986) IMDB. A slow learner.

The Gambler (1974) IMDB. The mathematics of belief.

The Colbert Report: 8.69 (2012) IMDB. More intellectual brilliance of the Republican Party.

The Colbert Report: 8.86 (2012) IMDB. The intellectual brilliance of the Republican Party.

Threshold: Trees Made of Glass, Part 2 (2005) IMDB. We're not fans of group therapy either.

Threshold: Outbreak (2005) IMDB. Another way to investigate probability.

This is Spinal Tap (1989) IMDB. VTAC logic (and our column).

Fermat's Last Tango (1989) IMDB. The press at work (and our column).

That's Adequate (1989) IMDB. The true story of the discovery of relativity.

The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) IMDB. A pretty girl and poetic mathematics (and our column).

Stand and Deliver (1988) IMDB. Integration by ganas.

The Wonder Years: Math Class (1989) IMDB. Mr. Collins, a great maths character.

Touch: Pilot (2012) IMDB. So that's how to win the lottery (and our column).

Family Guy: Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington (2001) IMDB. A senator employs a really big number (and our column).

Forbidden Planet (1956) IMDB. Alien exponentials (and our column).

Torchy Gets Her Man (1938) IMDB. We cannot confirm that this is a technique taught in Maths Methods, but we can't rule it out either (and our column).

The brilliant Steve Martin is interviewed by the brilliant Bob Osserman (and our column). The DVD can be purchased here.

Carry on Teacher (1959) IMDB. Teachers can be so clever (and our column).

The Wizard of Oz (1939) IMDB. Australian higher education in a nutshell (and our column).

Waterboys (2001) IMDB. Some applied geometry.

Get Smart: The Decoy (1966) IMDB. Max recites his times tables (and our column).

Pleasantville (1998) IMDB. A very strange world, with some even stranger director's commentary. (And, our column).

The Mirror Has Two Faces (1994) IMDB. A gift for the mathematician who has everything.

The Mirror Has Two Faces (1994) IMDB. Tough standards for a mathematician's date.

A Pure Formality (1994) IMDB. Gérard Depardieu and Roman Polanksi play geometric mind games.

Hotel Hilbert (1996) IMDB. David Hilbert would be proud.

Mean Girls (2004) IMDB. The glamorous world of maths competitions.

Suspect X (Yôgisha X No Kenshin) (2008) IMDB. How to occupy yourself in prison.

Futurama: A Fishful of Dollars (1999) IMDB. The perils of cheating.

Three O'Clock High (1987) IMDB. The perils of cheating.

Ball of Fire (1941) IMDB. Barbara Stanwyck makes one hell of an apple.