Who cares about maths?

Lisa’s too busy wiring her micro-computer, Jack’s obsessed with extreme sports and Hannah wants to save the environment. Sometimes it’s hard to see how useful maths is in the real world.

This animation brings to life the math and engineering behind: the New York Times Square fireworks display, a parachute jump from space and generating renewable energy in Denmark.

We get a glimpse of the equations and calculations involved in determining mass, launch velocity, terminal velocity, drag coefficient, wind resistance and power generation capacity.

In addition to mathematics, it touches on the applications of aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, mechatronics engineering and software engineering.

This short educational STEM video is about maths and engineering. It is targeted at high school students – especially those who are looking to study engineering at university.

newcastle.edu.au/engineering

Note: this video was made by the University of Newcastle in collaboration with illustrator Jeremy Ley (jeremyley.com) and video production guru Nick Parker (lightcreative.com.au).