4/11/2023 0 Comments Among the hidden movie full“I didn't expect him to, but he actually put that into the script.” “ really liked that concept,” Horne said in an interview with NPR station KGOU. Rudy Horne, a mathematician at Morehouse College in Atlanta, was the math advisor to the movie, and it was he who suggested Euler's Method for the key blackboard scene. That's what Johnson's character in the movie means when she says Euler's Method works "numerically."Įuler's Method is one of the simplest of many numerical methods that now exist for solving differential equations. The method works best when the points are close together and when the solution changes slowly and smoothly, because errors can accumulate at each step of the process.Īpproximating a pathway made up of infinitely many points, by linking together a finite number of calculations, is an example of something called a numerical approach in mathematics. This process of calculating solutions at discrete points and connecting them is essentially Euler's Method, Loh said. By knowing your starting point and assuming the current stays roughly constant between readings, you could plot an approximate trajectory. Instead, as you drift along, you could measure the current at regular time intervals. Sometimes, however, it's impossible to get this comprehensive, ideal solution. If you're planning to navigate from a remote island on a raft, you'd want to determine exactly how you'd float through the water, which is a pathway made up of infinitely many points - analogous to an exact solution to a differential equation. As you travel through the water, the currents change direction and speed. One way to visualize the meaning of the equations could be as ocean currents, Loh said. How hard gravity pulls is related to distance, so as the spacecraft gets nearer to or farther away from Earth, the forces on it also change. For example, when a capsule is flying through space, gravity is constantly tugging at it. These equations often show up, among many other places, in physics problems that describe the path of a moving object subject to changing forces. When that happens, mathematicians must figure out ways to approximate the answers for specific situations.Įuler's method is one such technique applied to what is called a differential equation. The method tackles what many people may not realize is a common challenge in math - often the equations just can't be solved exactly. What has come to be known as Euler's Method is just a tiny fraction of his legendary contributions. "He was one of the greatest in history," said Po-Shen Loh, a mathematician at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. It was developed by Leonhard Euler (pronounced oy-ler), a prolific Swiss mathematician who lived 1707-1783. The scene - and indeed the timing of key details in the film - is clearly dramatized for Hollywood, but it raises the questions: What exactly is Euler's Method? And did Katherine Johnson actually use it to help send astronauts into orbit in the 1960s? An "ancient" approximation techniq ueįirst off, Euler's Method is indeed pretty old, if not exactly ancient. "That's ancient," says one of the engineers incredulously. They're stumped until Johnson hits upon a solution: "Euler's Method," she says. During a pivotal scene, Johnson and a team of white, male engineers are staring at a blackboard, trying to solve equations for the trajectory of astronaut John Glenn's space capsule. The film's standout math whiz is Katherine Goble Johnson. (Inside Science) - Math plays a starring role in the movie "Hidden Figures," which is nominated for three Oscars, including Best Picture, at this weekend's Academy Awards.Īdapted from a book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly, the movie chronicles the grit and ultimate triumphs of three African-American women working as "human computers" for NASA in the segregated south during the space race.
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