Christy Hovanetz, Ph.D., is a Senior Policy Fellow for ExcelinEd focusing on school accountability and math policies.
Mickey Mouse made his debut on May 15, 1928, in a test screening of the animated short film Plane Crazy. The six-minute, black-and-white film has Mickey imitating Charles Lindbergh to fly a plane.
Early animation relied on math to calculate movement and frame rates, meaning how many frames per second are needed to make a character move fluidly. As animation evolved, math became even more important to calculate viewpoints, aspect rations, character movement, artificial lighting and color balance.
Using math in filmmaking is part of the animator’s job and plays a critical behind-the-scenes role. Math formulas work at the back end to process and complete the visuals audiences see in the front end. Without math, shapes would not appear smoothly nor act according to the artist’s command.
Math that students learn in middle school through early college is used daily in animation studios. Via Khan Academy, Tony DeRose of Pixar shows how various math subjects are used in animated filmmaking—for example, to increase and decrease figures (multiplication), rotate figures (trigonometry) and simulate light and how it bounces around environments (integral calculus) to create smoother surfaces (subdivision surfaces). Math also makes animated characters move in truly natural ways (harmonic coordinates). Animators are creating new uses for math all the time!
Understanding the math behind the scenes helps us appreciate animated films in a whole new light.
Do your part to ensure our next generation of animators keep Saturday mornings filled with cereal-eating, cartoon-watching adventures! ExcelinEd has a comprehensive K-8 math model policy and the math policy’s fundamental principles for states use in preparing all students with math skills.
