Costas J. Efthimiou

A new variant of the General Education course Explorations in Mathematics using Hollywood movies will be introduced and tested this Fall.

The Explorations in Mathematics course is an effort to bring the excitement of the mathematical thinking to the non-specialist through applications from our society, industry, business, etc. However, mathematics still appears to be disconnected to life for those who have developed a `natural fear' or `dislike'. The introduction of movies is an educational vehicle that attempts to make the connection between math and life more direct. It also ameliorates the fear or dislike for math by discussing math through a popular and favorite activity in the students' lives.

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Introduction to Langragian and Hamiltonian formulations of Newtonian mechanics, Calculus of Variations, Hamilton-Jacobi Theory. For Physics, Math, & Engineering majors.

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Physics in Films (PSC 1801) is an equivalent to Physical Science course (PSC 1121). It introduces science through the use of Hollywood movies. Offered in different flavors. The Spring 2010 flavor will be Pseudoscience.

The Pseudoscience flavor of the course uses Hollywood movies with supernatural and paranormal content. Some of the movies that have been used in the past are: Suspect Zero, Premonition, Sixth Sense, Unbreakable.

Before you take this course you should consider the following rating:

The instructor is unsympathetic to personal beliefs and feelings if they contradict scientific laws and/or experimental data.

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Physics in Films (PSC 1801) is an equivalent to Physical Science course (PSC 1121). It introduces science through the use of Hollywood movies. Offered in different flavors. The Summer 2010 flavor will be Global Warming.

The Global Warming flavor of the course uses Hollywood movies related to climate changes on Earth and other planets. Some of the movies to be used are: An Inconvenient Truth, The Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon.

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