Powers of Ten (9m:01s)

Starting with a meter wide field of view and moving back steadily to one some 15 billion light-years across, Powers of Ten is a classic short film created in 1968 to help illustrate well... the powers of ten. When I taught astronomy, I would always open our class with a showing of the modernized version, Cosmic Voyage. It scope of these films is a testament to human understanding, not to mention, a great illustration of exponential growth.

LINKS GOOD ON 2011-08-28

Written and performed by Jonathan Coulton, the troubadour of the Internet age, Mandelbrot Set tells the tale of Benoit Mandelbrot, the mathamatition behind the apptly named Mandelbrot set. It should be noted, however, that Coultom, made an error in his description and actually described a Julian set in his song. Nonetheless, it's a great song.

Also, hats off to the great film makers behind this. As a fellow Cornell film student, "Go big red!"

LINKS GOOD ON 2011-08-28

This is simply the most beautiful story based on topology I have ever seen. Vi Hart is a self-described full-time recreational mathemusician living in Long Island, and she has a whole set of mathy videos over on her YouTube Channel. Head over there and get lost. Her videos are great.

LINKS GOOD ON 2011-08-28

Parabolas (4m:14s)

I'm a big fan of WNYC's Radio Lab, and the above video is a partner to this wonderful segment: The Wonder of Youth. The segment builds upon the introduction to the video, discussing Steve Strogatz's parabola discovery. The episode isn't really mathy, it's more sciencey, but very fun.

LINKS GOOD ON 2011-08-28

The Mathamagicians among you may recognize the humor as that of Norton Juster, author of The Phantom Tollbooth. Originally a book by the same name, The Dot and The Line was made into a short animated film in 1965. It went on to win the Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

LINKS GOOD ON 2006-12-14

TED Talk by Economist Steven Levitt (2004) (21m:19s)

An economist at the University of Chicago and author of the bestselling book Freakonomics, Steven Levitt explores the question "Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?" Thanks to a grad student "on the inside," Levitt elucidates the economic workings of an inner-city gang.

This is pretty much chapter 3 from his book, and the entire thing is worth checking out. You might also appreciate the Freakonomics Blog, a great collection of observations from Levitt and his co-author Stephen J. Dubner.

LINKS GOOD ON 2011-08-28

TED Talk by Statistician Peter Donnelly (2005) (21m:24s)

In addition to sharing a few great statician jokes, Donnelly examines how we deal with randomness and makes a great argument for why we need a better understanding of statistics and what it has to tell us about the world in which we live.

LINKS GOOD ON 2011-08-28