I watched 'A Beautiful Mind' on DVD last night.

I enjoyed it enormously but I was less impressed by the maths.

Did anyone else spot the flaws?

just wanted to add, being myself a mathematician, that math papers
quite commonly employ the greek letter pi as a variable that can
denote many things other than the value of the constant 3.1415...
known as pi. there is nothing unusual in that (but hey, a math paper
containing all the letters in the greek alphabet i have yet to
encounter.)

as for my personal impression of the movie, which i watched about a
year ago: i don't remember spotting any specific math flaws (and i'm
quite interested in, and somewhat acquainted with, the mathematical
work of john nash), except maybe that what little math was actually
shown was shown in a very superficial hollywood-kind of way.

a broader kind of flaw is that the movie makes the same annoying
mistake that most movies about mathematicians make, namely to glorify
and romanticize mathematics and mathematicians, giving the impression
that they are some kind of super-human beings (but sub-human in other
respects.) of course there are plenty of mathematicians whose personal
stories are amazing and are an inspiration to us all, but i think they
would be all the more inspiring in their true detail, without some
hollywood scriptwriter working extra hard to dramatize them and make
them more accessible to a non-mathematical audience.

here are two particular examples that come to mind: (only two, because
after all i don't remember the movie all that well. if i were to watch
it again i'm sure i would find more) 1. when nash's student and
wife-to-be enters his (MIT?) office to deliver her final project, he
tries to dismiss her thinking she could not possibly have solved this
very hard assignment, finally at her insistence takes one glance at
the page and immediately says that it's very impressive work. will all
due respect to the genius of john nash, this is not very believable -
he could at least have taken 20-30 seconds to evaluate it!
2. nash's nobel prize address (at the very end of the movie) was the
worst kind of hollywood baloney and annoyed me to no end. when he said
something about "the equations of love" i truly wanted to barf.

regards,
dannidin

Bryan,

I won't leave you inconsolable, the thought is much more than any one
woman can bear.  I have reconstructed my Comment as best I can below.
And I must admit, your attention (reference Q #270865 ) ...is
intoxicating.


ORIGINAL COMMENT:
______________________________________________________________________________

Hi probonopublico,

If you take the search string:

"A Beautiful Mind" math flaw

...you get 185 results...  

Here's a couple that may interest you:

Beautiful Math - Dave Bayer ¡¯77 writes Hollywood¡¯s Equations.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin/june02/bayer.html

Cached Page - original is N/A
April 24, 2003 - Math prof behind ¡®A Beautiful Mind¡¯ speaks - BY
CYNTHIA WU
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:L3EuyltTNSAJ:phoenix.swarthmore.edu/2003-04-24/news/13042+%22A+Beautiful+Mind%22+math&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
..."Bayer also had an explanation for the 0¡Ü¦Ğ¡Ü1 image that appeared
in some promotional posters for the movie. The equation came from one
of Nash¡¯s papers, in which he used all of the letters in the Greek
alphabet for his variables. In doing so, he used ¦Ğ as just another
variable, instead of the approximate value of 3.1415926 that it is
usually taken to represent..."

______________________________________________________________________________

BONUS LINKS:

Scroll to "A Beautiful Mind"
http://www.moviebloopers.com/bloopers/drama/

The Math in 'A Beautiful Mind' - By Nicholas Thompson Fellow 
The Boston Globe - January 1, 2002
http://www.newamerica.net/index.cfm?pg=article&pubID=690


I'm more flattered than you can imagine! Tonight, I will drink a
'Pousse-Caf¨¦' in your honor, and fall asleep with thoughts of you
waltzing in my head.

Pousse-Caf¨¦ 
Image of a classic 'Pousse-Caf¨¦: 
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/8904/classic13.jpg

History
http://cocktails.about.com/library/weekly/aa023100a.htm
..."The Pousse-Caf¨¦ is an old cocktail which originated in France. It
literally means "pushes coffee", which makes it a perfect after dinner
cocktail to have with or after coffee. It was introduced in New
Orleans in the 1840's and became quite popular throughout the States
by the turn of the century. Carefully layered, it is a sight to behold
and to drink. Each layer is meant to compliment the next and should be
sipped slowly to savor each flavor..."


Needless to say, a Pousse-Caf¨¦ is a special occasion drink.

Thanks for the attention, with all the *blushing* I've been doing, I
dare say I shall leave the niacin alone for a few days!

~~Fondly yours,
~~Cynthia