دانلود کتاب Mathematics in Popular Culture: Essays on Appearances in Film, Fiction, Games, Television and Other Media

Mathematics has maintained a surprising presence in popular media for over a century. In recent years, the movies Good Will Hunting, A Beautiful Mind, and Stand and Deliver, the stage plays Breaking the Code and Proof, the novella Flatland and the hugely successful television crime series NUMB3RS all weave mathematics prominently into their storylines. Less obvious but pivotal references to the subject appear in the blockbuster TV show Lost, the cult movie The Princess Bride, and even Tolstoy's War and Peace.In this collection of new essays, contributors consider the role of math in everything from 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.About the AuthorJessica K. Sklar, an associate professor of mathematics at Pacific Lutheran University, has published in the field of noncommutative ring theory and in the more readily accessible field of recreational mathematics. Elizabeth S. Sklar, a professor emerita at Wayne State University, specializes in Old and Middle English language and literature. She has published extensively in the fields of modern and medieval Arthurian legend. Table of ContentsAcknowledgments viForeword by Keith Devlin 1IntroductionJESSICA K. SKLAR and ELIZABETH S. SKLAR 3Part One: The GameA Survey of Fictional Mathematics in LiteratureALEX KASMAN 9"You Never Said Anything about Math": Math Phobia and Math Fanaticism in the World of LostKRISTINE LARSEN 27What's in a Name? The Matrix as an Introduction to MathematicsKRIS GREEN 44Mapping Contagion and Disease, Catastrophe and Destruction: Computer Modeling in the Epidemiological Disaster NarrativeKATHLEEN COYNE KELLY and DOUGLAS WHITTINGTON 55Fair and Unfair Division in Neal Stephenson's CryptonomiconWILLIAM GOLDBLOOM BLOCH and MICHAEL D. C. DROUT 71Game Theory in Popular Culture: Battles of Wits and Matters of TrustJENNIFER FIRKINS NORDSTROM 86Coming Out of the Dungeon: Mathematics and Role-Playing GamesKRIS GREEN 99Playing Moneyball: Math and BaseballJEFF HILDEBRAND 114A Mathematician Does the New York Times Sunday Crossword PuzzleGENE ABRAMS 123Part Two: The PlayersXKCD: A Web of Popular CultureKAREN BURNHAM 137Counting with the Sharks: Math-Savvy Gamblers in Popular CultureMATTHEW LANE 148Stand and Deliver Twenty Years LaterKSENIJA SIMIC-MULLER, MAURA VARLEY GUTIERREZ and RODRIGO JORGE GUTIERREZ 163Smart Girls: The Uncanny Daughters of Arcadia and ProofSHARON ALKER and ROBERTA DAVIDSON 172Mean Girls: A Metamorphosis of the Female Math NerdKRISTIN ROWAN 187The Mathematical Misanthrope and American Popular CultureKENNETH FAULKNER 198Alan Turing: Reflecting on the Life, Work, and Popular Representations of a Queer MathematicianK. G. VALENTE 219Mat(t)h Anxiety: Math as Symptom in Gus Van Sant's Good Will HuntingDONALD L. HOFFMAN 233Part Three: Math + MetaphorThinking Outside the Box: Application Versus Discovery in Saw and CubeJESSICA K. SKLAR 247Tolstoy's Integration Metaphor from War and PeaceSTEPHEN T. AHEARN 258"We'll all change together": Mathematics as Metaphor in Greg Egan's FictionNEIL EASTERBROOK 265Truth by the Numbers: Mysticism and Madness in Darren Aronofsky's πLAURIE A. FINKE and MARTIN B. SHICHTMAN 274Flatland in Popular CultureLILA MARZ HARPER 288Discovering a Higher Plane: Dimensionality and Enlightenment in Flatland and DiasporaCHRIS PAK 304Projective Geometry in Early Twentieth-Century Esotericism: From the Anthroposophical Society to the Thoth TarotRICHARD KACZYNSKI 314AppendicesA: Mathematics in Performance Media 333B: Mathematics in Fiction and Poetry 334About the Contributors 337Index 341