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Hi,

I am looking for mathematical documentaries, both technical and non-technical. They should be "interesting" in that they present either actual mathematics, mathematicians or history of mathematics. I am in charge of nourishing our departamental math library (PUCV) and I would like to add this kind of material in order to attract undergraduates toward mathematics. For this reason, I am not looking for videos of conferences or seminar talks, but rather for introductory or "wide public" material.

Here are some good examples.

-"Dimensions", by Leys, Ghys & Alvarez, http://www.dimensions-math.org/ which explains actual maths and is excellent.

-"Julia Robinson and Hilbert's tenth problem", about the life of some great mathematicians.

-BBC documentary on "Fermat's last theorem" (by the way, any information about how to purchase it would be welcome, it does not seem to be possible to do it from the BBC site).

Are there more examples?

Thanks,

Ricardo.

edited Dec 16 at 3:44

Timothy Chow

community wiki

2 revisions, 2 users
Ricardo Menares 88%

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Not exactly a documentary, but appropriate for an undergrad math library: youtube.com/watch?v=wO61D9x6lNY – Aaron Hoffman Jun 19 at 18:57

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This question should surely be community wiki. – HW Jun 19 at 19:41

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Yes, Ricardo: please edit your question and click on the option "communiy wiki" (see the FAQ for more information on what that is). – André Henriques Jun 19 at 19:55

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Maciej Starostka · Answer 1 · 2012-07-11 06:57:04Z UTC

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There is a document "Banach spaces" about S.Banach and other polish mathematicians from Lviv ( S.Ulam, J.P.Schauder)

Unfortunetelly I don't know about any translation to english.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJgl_Z9Yz1Q

answered Jul 11 at 6:57

Maciej Starostka

community wiki

keith hubert · Answer 2 · 2013-02-15 17:01:05Z UTC

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The best I have ever seen is "The Proof". It is a Nova documentary on Sir Andrew Wiles and his proof of Fermat's last theorem. I can always find something interesting to talk about with my students who range from algebra one level to calculus.

answered Feb 15 at 17:01

keith hubert

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Artur Zielazny · Answer 3 · 2013-03-26 22:40:37Z UTC

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"Between The Folds" is another beautiful documentary about Math. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE4lqYzS2m0

answered Mar 26 at 22:40

Artur Zielazny

community wiki

Interesting mathematical documentaries

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