Mathematics in the Arts: Film’s Depiction of Number Theory, Madness, and the Enigma of “Pi”

Charles Darwin once defined a mathematician as "a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn't there." Do you think the universe we live in will ever be fully understood? Scientists believe mathematical equations will eventually explain everything. But at what cost to the human mind? In recent years, there have been a number of fascinating films made that feature mathematicians. But consistently, in each one of them, these theoreticians are shown disturbed, “finding patterns in everything with no boundaries between reality and the abstract world of numbers.” And to make matters worse, movie makers show them plagued by such psychological instability, that they’re unable to contend with and connect to the real world at all. On film, it simply appears that “math signals madness.”  

Yet, philosopher and theologian St. Augustine of Hippo once said that, "numbers are the universal language offered by the deity to humans as confirmation of the truth.” Indeed, in Carl Sagan's novel Contact, which examines the divide between science and religion, the question is asked, “Can a numerical structure provide a reliable association with supernatural origins?” Perhaps all one has to do is look at recent “crop circle” phenomenon to believe that something mysterious is “out there” and willing to connect science, inform belief systems, and provide a reply to our questions. And so it goes, that these troubled number theorist believe that “everything in the world can be understood through numbers if they are only graphed and charted correctly.” This subject deals with troubles and triumphs related to the mathematical genius mentality. And it’s the entertaining medium of Film that provides an artistic look at math, the science of consciousness, and the psychological difficulty which “genuine esoteric activity” can generate, as science demands an explanation from truth.