Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Language: English
• Studio: A K Peters/CRC Press
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 1568810466
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #553,276 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

This award-winning video visualizes the discovery that a sphere can be turned inside out by means of smooth motion if self-intersection of the material is allowed. Stunning computer animation combined with thorough explanations in the spoken text and the accompanying four-color booklet, Making Waves, classify this film as "educational entertainment." "The technical work could hardly be improved upon." -- James M. Kister, Mathematical Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A complicated mathematical tale told through computer animation, July 8, 2006

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Outside In: Video and Supplement (NTSC version) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This tape is really, really cool. The quality of the animation is excellent and the story is one where animation is necessary to tell the complicated mathematical tale to anyone with an interest but lacking the requisite math skills. In 1957, mathematician Steve Smale made the amazing discovery that it is possible to turn a sphere inside out using only smooth motions and self-intersections. However, the complicated mathematics meant that the result was accessible to only a few. The advent of advanced computer graphics has changed all that and now this type of mathematical result can be seen and understood by anyone.
I was enthralled by the animations of the circle as it is turned inside out, the choice of color and the speed of the transformations of the sphere are easy to follow and it is performed several times. While some mathematics is discussed on the tape, it is only the immediate essentials and can be ignored with no loss of understanding. There is a short companion booklet," Making Waves: A Guide to the Ideas Behind Outside In" written by Silvio Levy that describes the mathematics in more detail. My ten-year old daughter also found it interesting. In my reviews of videos, it is a very rare occasion when she will sit and watch a video with me. However, in this case, she did and furthermore, did something she has not done before, asked questions about what was happening on the tape.
With the success of Hollywood movies animated by computer, we tend to forget that movies can also be used to instruct and illustrate ideas that cannot be viewed any other way. The demonstrations on this video show the power of computer animation to demonstrate complicated topics and I strongly recommend that you show this tape to your math and computer classes.

Published in Mathematics and Computer Education, reprinted with permission.