Math Behind Hidden Figures Math plays a critical role in movies, behind the scenes and in the movie itself. Math is deeply integrated and correlated with roles such as designing sets and maintaining budget (Whittemore, 2014). On the other aspect of things, some movies also use math as part of the plot. The movie Hidden Figures tells an inspirational story of three African-American women who served a vital role in the space race, through math. The movie utilizes math to tell a story on how some black women were given empowerment. For instance, the movie features Euler’s method, correlating to the math side, but it also showed the power that was given to Katherine Johnson for using the method. The movie as a whole featured historical struggles of blacks and the hope that the power of education gave them.
In Hidden Figures, Katherine Johnson was given the opportunity to check the math that would result in life or death for the astronaut, John Glenn. She used Euler’s method to approximate trajectories by hand. The Euler’s method describes “the path of a moving object subject to changing forces” (Meyers, 2017). For instance, you could use
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That is a quote written about the movie Hidden Figures. The quote voices how the math in the movie isn’t just solving equations but it is double-sided. In scenes of Hidden Figures such as when the chalk was handed to Katherine for her to work the problem, it showed a sense of hope and offered a chance to someone who wouldn’t have normally gotten one, in a segregated society. The power of math and education was portrayed in this movie, even without any problems being solved. In the movie, “ Numbers are leveling. They do not care about one’s gender. They do not care about the color of one’s skin” (Garber, 2017). Instead, math sees equality and an equal chance for everyone, even a black African-American in a time of racial and gender
We live in a world that is always changing and as such creates inequality and suffering. Many people feel the need to change this and hope for a better world. Even though people have different religions and beliefs, we all have some hope,which motivates us to wake up everyday and make a difference in this world. Hope is what brings us together to fight for a common cause. As Duncan-Andrade explains throughout his article, “Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete,” it is not enough to hope for a better future, especially for young people of color because hoping will not bring the needed change we expect. “Growing Roses in Concrete”(Duncan-Andrade 5) is not an easy task because of the many circumstances and policies that create inequality in these schools and in the society as a whole. In urban schools in the United States, there is more disparately and inequality among young people of color and while educators have tried to solve such issues through different means, the problem still prevails and this has just created “false hope”. Duncan-Andrade states that th...
During the semester, race is a big part of the lectures. In class, we talk about how race is distinguishing physical characteristics used to place people in different racial categories (Jensen). The biggest concern with race is racial inequality. Racial inequality is the inadequate or unfair treatment of minorities in areas like income, education, employment, health, the criminal justice system, and media. The article written by Rebecca Keegan from the Los Angeles Times newspaper discusses the inequality of race in media specifically movies. This article relates to the unfairness in films because minorities are poorly portrayed in the majority of films. More often than not, minorities are the “bad guys” in films. They are caught up in criminal activity and live in poorer neighborhoods than the majority. The article gives numerous statistics proving and exploiting that there is indeed racial inequality depicted in films. Also the Keegan touches on how minorities are underrepresented in films in the way that they usually do not have as many speaking lines compared to the white actor/actress.
Furthermore, Chapter 15 begins to explain educational inequality. In the United States, education is available but not to every child in the same way. Different social-classes means different schools, instructions, criteria, rates, and times. In addition to class differences, races and ethnics unfortunately play a role in educational achievement. For example, in general, African Americans, Latino/a’s, and Native Americans usually do worse in school than white or Asian American students
Overall, Clarke explains that a class advantage does not necessarily lead to social power. Moreover, it is for black women who cannot separate themselves from the symbolism that is associated with their bodies as well as, gender inequities in the pursuit of love. In addition, she goes on in explaining that Class is not only gained through productivity but in addition to love marriage and family.
...hen I used to go to Horace Mann School I thought that white people were different. When I saw the colored kids at Horace Mann acting silly or doing something that I didn’t think they should do, I said to myself that they did this just because they were colored. Now... I see that white children do silly things too. Just like there are dumb colored children there are some dumb whites. There are some average colored and there are some average whites, and there are some smart whites and some smart colored. I guess what I have learned is that they are not so different and we aren’t so different.”34
The quote above was said by Michael Oher, the main character in the movie, The Blind Side. This phenomenal movie portrays a real life story about a young man who was affected by racism, discrimination and social class challenges. Michael’s childhood consisted of many foster care homes and life without education. It wasn’t until Michael’s height, race and size was noticed by a school football coach, for him to potentially see a future starting for himself. Briarcrest Christian School gave Michael his first chance at success and open opportunities to create a life. It didn’t just take the school community for Michael to succeed, it took
Throughout history, and in today’s society, race has been a debated topic. Even today the question about whether race influences intelligence, athletic ability, and creativeness is still discussed. Through scientific research it is known that race contributes nothing to how a person thinks, feels, or acts and that is it society that creates these standards. When looking into the past there was much controversy about blacks and their self worth. According to the Thomas Jefferson’s article “Notes on the State of Virginia” blacks and whites are naturally different and fixed by nature. In other words blacks are naturally not as intelligent as whites, but today’s knowledge argues, and proves, otherwise. There is also argument about the possibility that blacks are inferior to whites because of their environment. In the movie “Race, the Power of Illusion” teenagers of many different races and ethnic backgrounds were tested to determine how different they really are from one another. In the end, everyone finds out they may not be as different as originally thought. Society as a whole needs to realize we, as Americans, are more alike than we think. If everyone can get over skin color as a classification, then society will have overcome a huge barrier and the future for equality will become clearer.
It 's not always about how things look on the outside, but more about your inner self. More about getting those individuals to believe in themselves.The film helped me to see the value of building up self esteem. I know in math some of the kids that say they don’t like math just had a bad experience with it. Usually I’ll try and give them something simple just to start to let them feel a sense of accomplishment. Then I usually will continue to build from there. This film never gets old. It’s still very relatable today and a young audience would be able to see themselves in any of those characters. This film reminded me that kids are coming to class with many different experiences, emotional phases, as well as insecurities. I must remain cognizant of them along with continuing to be that positive role model they need. I would recommend this film to anyone that has kids they would like to keep encouraged as well the ones they believe are
I also learned that mathematics was more than merely an intellectual activity: it was a necessary tool for getting a grip on all sorts of problems in science and engineering. Without mathematics there is no progress. However, mathematics could also show its nasty face during periods in which problems that seemed so simple at first sight refused to be solved for a long time. Every math student will recognize these periods of frustration and helplessness.
In his article, “The Myth of Equality” written in August 2010 in his official blog, Patrick Buchanan, an American conservative political commentator, suggests that equality will never be achievable here in America when it comes to personal skills and abilities (par. 8). He points out the inequality that is evident in the American professional sports where only those who are considered “good” are thriving (par. 6-7). Buchanan reveals that the standardize test that is given to students proves that there is a disparity in education among racial groups (par. 16). He infers that here in America, because we vary in our capabilities to perform at something, inequalities among racial groups are almost the standard and it is demonstrated in several institutions.
The movie “The Class Divided” was a very inspirational movie because it taught a lesson on discrimination and racism. The film covers Jane Elliot experience with the “eye-color” exercise and it shows how the participants responded to being a victim of discrimination. The teacher who came up with the exercise was a third grade –teacher that wanted to explain to her kids the reasons behind Martin Luther King death. She divided each class she taught up by their eye color and treated them according to whatever eye color was more superior that day. Her lesson influenced and inspired the younger kids and older adults because it taught them a life learning lesson that could stick with them for years to come.
“There will be no free rides, no excuses. You already have two strikes against you: your name and your complexion. Because of these two strikes, there are some people in this world who will assume that you know less than you do. Math is the great equalizer... When you go for a job, the person giving you that job will not want to hear your problems; ergo, neither do I. You're going to work harder here than you've ever worked anywhere else. And the only thing I ask from you is ganas. Desire.” Ramon Menendez (Stand and Deliver)
These movies are history lessons to the audience since they show something we were not able to witness or take part in. Consider war movies such as “The Tuskegee Airmen and Memphis Belle”. Though not one hundred percent accurate, both depict actual events of historical wars. They are examples of how movies can teach the newer generation about what their distant relatives did for their country. Another type of informative movies describes the cultures and societies around the world. “City of God” is a prime example. These movies show the hardships that people in other countries face in their day-to-day lives. Again, these are just two simple examples of how movies can be learning tools for a mass
With this promise came serious concerns over education taught students ranked 28th in the United States out of 40 other countries in Mathematics and Sciences. 80% of occupations depend on knowledge of Mathematics and Science (Week and Obama 2009). In order to ensure that educators have enough money to fund the endeavor to be more competitive with the rest of the world in Mathematics and Science, President Obama will increase federal spending in education with an additional 18 billion dollars in k-12 classrooms, guaranteeing educators have the teachers, technology, and professional development to attain highly quali...
As a secondary subject, society often views mathematics a critical subject for students to learn in order to be successful. Often times, mathematics serves as a gatekeeper for higher learning and certain specific careers. Since the times of Plato, “mathematics was virtually the first thing everyone has to learn…common to all arts, science, and forms of thought” (Stinson, 2004). Plato argued that all students should learn arithmetic; the advanced mathematics was reserved for those that would serve as the “philosopher guardians” of the city (Stinson, 2004). By the 1900s in the United States, mathematics found itself as a cornerstone of curriculum for students. National reports throughout the 20th Century solidified the importance of mathematics in the success of our nation and its students (Stinson, 2004). As a mathematics teacher, my role to educate all students in mathematics is an important one. My personal philosophy of mathematics education – including the optimal learning environment and best practices teaching strategies – motivates my teaching strategies in my personal classroom.