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.

Goodbye to Language (2014) IMDB. Goddard may know what he's talking about, even if no one else does.

Doctor Who 2005: Midnight (2008) IMDB. You never know when you'll need an irrational root.

Ramanujan (2014) IMDB. Some very famous mathematicians and a very famous taxi.

Saint Clara (1996) IMDB. Some puzzles are easier than you'd expect.

Infinity (1996) IMDB. Some impressive infinitying, before it gets weird.

The Powerpuff Girls: Dance Pantsed (2014) IMDB. How all mathematicians should dress.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 5.19 (2001) IMDB. Slaying triangles.

Last Week Tonight (2015) IMDB. Risk and Republican mathematics.

All This and Heaven Too (1940) IMDB. It seems that French classes used to be a lot tougher.

Box of Moonlight (1996) IMDB. Flash cards can be a huge help.

Dear Brigitte (1965) IMDB. A boy with a very good sense of priorities.

The A-Team: 1.6 (1983) IMDB. It's apparently not easy to explain the infinity concept of declining numbers.

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) IMDB. Understanding is secondary; the reasoning is the thing.

Sneakers (1992) IMDB. Shhh! I'm trying to listen to the crazy guy up front.

Outside Providence (1999) IMDB. It's amazing what you can accomplish with a little study.

Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982) IMDB. A great idea for a soccer match.

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968) IMDB. One would think mathematical proof is the least of his concerns.

Cube (1997) IMDB. There's no royal road through cubic geometry.

The Simpsons: 7.7 (1995) IMDB. Dimensions just have to be shown who's boss.

Tin Man (2007) IMDB. A little mental arithmetic.

Stand and Deliver (1988) IMDB. Jaime Escalante fills the hole.

South Park: 11.8 (2007) IMDB. It can be really tough to teach negative numbers.

The Simpsons: 9.3 (1993) IMDB. A long, long rhyme.

The Simpsons: 20.13 (2009) IMDB. Maybe Homer is smarter than we thought.

Survivor: Thailand (2002) IMDB. Maybe they should have saved this challenge for Survivor: Princeton.

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1951) IMDB. A geometry breakthrough from Gracie Allen.

Izo (2004) IMDB. An unfortunate Samurai ghost demonstrates the perils of playing with Möbius strips.

Mindhunters (2004) IMDB. A little cubing while playing psych games.

Last Year at Marienbad (1961) IMDB. Idle classes and idle brains.

Aces (2006) IMDB. Which is more polished, the maths or the acting?

Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) IMDB. Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson try their hand at jug mathematics.

Cloak and Dagger (1946) IMDB. Well, you have to do something while hiding from the Nazis.

WALL.E (2008) IMDB. An easy puzzle for some.

Cheers: 6.16 (1988) IMDB. Some amazing probability.

Cheers: 4.3 (1985) IMDB. Some tricky arithmetic.

Total Drama Island 1.15 (2007) IMDB. In a barrel of leeches for ten seconds? Close, but no banana.

Cheers: 3.13 (1985) IMDB. Some tricks just leave you gasping.

The Thin Man (1934) IMDB. Mathematics can really help with family planning.

The Daily Show: 20.28 (2014). It's reassuring to have upper and lower bounds.

Bender's big score (2007) IMDB. Some razzle dazzle Globetrotter calculus.

Bromwell High 1.12 (2005) IMDB. Kind of says it all.

Idiocracy (2006) IMDB. No comment, just no comment.

Harold & Kumar Escape From Gauntanamo Bay (2008). An irrational pick up line.

Chen Jingrun (2001). Mathematicians are not always well understood.

Batman (1966) IMDB. Holy curvature, Batman!

Fletch Lives (1989) IMDB. A funnier name than Chevy Chase.

Malcom in the Middle 1.1 (2000) IMDB. The pleasures of being the smart kid.

Malcom in the Middle 1.7 (2000) IMDB. Malcolm saves the day.

Last Week Tonight: 1.7 (2014) IMDB. A very smart man interviews a very funny man.

P.S.(2004) IMDB. The universal attraction of universal gravitation.

Matilda (1996) IMDB. Teachers can be so appreciative.

12 to the Moon (1960) IMDB. It's always good to have a mathematician handy.

Are You With It? (1948) IMDB. The exacting standards of actuaries.