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.
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(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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