Project Mathematics!

The Project Mathematics! series of videos is a teaching aid for teachers to help students understand the basics of geometry and trigonometry. The series was developed by Tom M. Apostol and James F. Blinn, both from the California Institute of Technology. Apostol led the production of the series, while Blinn provided the computer animation used to depict the ideas beings discussed. Blinn mentioned that part of his inspiration was the Bell Lab Science Series of films from the 1950s. The material was designed for teachers to use in their curriculums and was aimed at grades 8 through 13. Workbooks are also available to accompany the videos and to assist teachers in presenting the material to their students. The videos are distributed as either 9 VHS videotapes or 3 DVDs, and include a history of mathematics and examples of how math is used in real world applications. ==Video module descriptions==

A total of nine educational video modules were created between 1988 and 2000. Another two modules, Teachers Workshop and Project MATHEMATICS! Contest, were created in 1991 for teachers and are only available on videotape. The content of the nine educational modules follows below. The Theorem of Pythagoras In 1988, The Theorem of Pythagoras was the first video produced by the series and reviews the Pythagorean theorem. Early History of Mathematics Reviews some of the major developments in mathematical history. == Production ==

The Project Mathematics! series was created and directed by Tom M. Apostol and James F. Blinn, both from the California Institute of Technology. The project was originally titled Mathematica but was changed to avoid confusion with the mathematics software package. A total of four full-time employees and four part-time employees produce the episodes with help from several volunteers. Each episode took between four and five months to produce. Blinn headed the creation of the computer animation used in each episode, which was done on a network of computers donated by Hewlett-Packard. Funding The majority of the funding came from two grants from the National Science Foundation totaling $3.1 million. Free distribution of some of the modules was provided by a grant from Intel. == Distribution ==

Project Mathematics! video tapes, DVDs and workbooks are primarily distributed to teachers through the California Institute of Technology bookstore and were popular to a standard that the bookstore hired an extra person just for processing orders of the series. Availability in different languages and formats The videos have been translated into Hebrew, Portuguese, French, and Spanish with the DVD version being both English and Spanish. PAL versions of the videos are available as well and efforts are underway to translate the materials into Korean. Releases All of the following were published by the California Institute of Technology: • Project Mathematics!, workbooks (1990), • Project Mathematics!, 9 videotapes (VHS, 30 minutes each, 1994), • Project Mathematics!, DVD 1, videodisk (DVD, 68 minutes, 2005), • Project Mathematics!, DVD 2, videodisk (DVD, 81 minutes, 2005), • Project Mathematics!, DVD 3, videodisk (DVD, 82 minutes, 2005), ==Awards==

Project Mathematics! has received numerous awards including the Gold Apple award in 1989 from the National Educational Film and Video Festival. • 1988 International Film and TV Festival of New York ==Interactive Project Mathematics!==

A web-based version of the materials was funded by a third grant from the National Science Foundation and was in phase 1, . ==See also==