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Do you hate math? Do you adore it? Both means, these two happenings in Paris is likely to be for you: a brand new museum and a movie – each make math come alive, bringing exuberance and pleasure to a subject that always appears impenetrable.

Movie: Marguerite’s Theorem

The extraordinary movie “Le théorème de Marguerite” (2023) explores the challenges of a younger feminine mathematician in an virtually all-male college atmosphere. Marguerite is making an attempt to unravel what stays one of many best unsolved mysteries of arithmetic: Goldbach’s conjecture. Whereas the plot is fictional, it’s a kind of tales that might simply have occurred, and that is likely to be taking place proper now. The movie is massive on verisimilitude, set within the École Nationale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris, one of many premier establishments for learning math and physics in France. Chances are you’ll be aware of a few of many luminaries who graduated from ENS: Louis Pasteur (chemistry), Esther Duflo (economics), and Michel Foucault (social historical past) –- and it has additionally had some illustrious college, from Samuel Beckett to Jacques Derrida. One other enjoyable reality: it’s the place Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir met. The movie’s director, Anna Novion, spent 4 months within the ENS observing and talking with math and physics college students to get a deeper sense of the social atmosphere – and it reveals. Viewers land proper in the midst of it.

The movie convincingly weaves collectively drama, comedy, and suspense – and sure, in case you’re questioning, there are additionally parts of a love story. Marguerite, performed by the splendidly chameleonic Ella Rumpf, turns into obsessed by her quest. The bodily atmosphere echoes the protagonist’s psychological states because the digicam performs with darkish interiors and sensible exteriors, confusion and readability, insanity and sanity. Because the movie progresses by way of quite a few vicissitudes, we start to determine with Marguerite’s ardour for math and for discovery.

The movie is at present exhibiting in a number of Parisian unbiased cinemas, and shall be launched within the US below the identify Marguerite’s Theorem. Within the meantime, you’ll be able to see the trailer with English closed captions right here (merci to Misplaced in Frenchlation): https://vimeo.com/874349431

Arithmetic Museum: Institut Henri Poincaré

In a extra tactile means, the brand new museum of arithmetic on the Institut Henri Poincaré invitations guests to think about math as a sequence of puzzles to be solved. Henri Poincaré (1854-1912), an excellent French mathematician, physicist, and thinker, contributed to the foundations of chaos principle, set principle, and topology. The Institute bearing his identify was based and in-built 1928 to advance analysis in theoretical and mathematical physics, replete with library, school rooms, and laboratories. In September 2023, 9 hundred sq. meters of the Institute turned the museum “the place math involves life.” An enchanting video (with English subtitles) options interviews with francophone mathematicians of various ages and backgrounds. Uniformly enthusiastic concerning the issues they’re pursuing, they embody a love of math, physics, and the way in which the 2 disciplines work together. The video is projected in an outdated, unique classroom with wood benches – a classroom so genuine {that a} present pupil was figuring out an equation on the unique slate blackboard as we seen the video on the display above him. Momentary reveals can even rotate within the museum – at present you’ll be able to don the suitable headgear and enter the world of synthetic intelligence.

The hands-on reveals of the museum (additionally with English commentary) invite guests to see the a number of makes use of of math, particularly when mixed with physics. Is it doable to write down a method for the sweeping motion of a flock of birds? (Sure.) Can you establish easy methods to match the utmost variety of weights of various values right into a 20-kilo suitcase? (With issue.) When dropped, how does a double pendulum behave? (It’s chaotic!)

The arithmetic museum stays small, however I’ll wager that in the event you go there, you’ll come out of it at the least slightly extra intrigued by the self-discipline. And if you’re proof against arithmetic earlier than seeing “Le théorème de Marguerite,” you could be transformed.

Institut Henri Poincaré
11 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, fifth
Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday from 9:30am to five:30pm, and Saturday from 10am to 6pm.
Closed on Wednesday, Sunday, and public holidays. Exceptionally closed December Twenty third-January sixth.
Tickets €10 (€5 for college kids 18-26; free for below 18). https://billetterie-maison-poincare.ihp.fr/
Solely a small variety of folks can enter the museum at a time, so pre-purchase your tickets on-line prematurely to keep away from disappointment.

For Additional Credit score
Be taught extra concerning the museum on this English interview with Sylvie Benzoni, mathematician and director of the Institut Henri Poincaré (IHP), who talks concerning the objectives and historical past of this museum, which is hosted and managed by Sorbonne College. Additionally, try the video beneath, with English captions.

Cathy Yandell is the W.I. and Hulda F. Daniell Professor of French at Carleton School, and writer of the French Artwork of Residing Nicely: Discovering Joie de Vivre within the On a regular basis World.