Original subtitles

Mighty strange.

That's an odd-looking creature.

What kind of a crazy place is this?

Well, what do you know? Square roots.

Pi is equal to 3.1 41 5926535897 47 et cetera.

Hello?

Hello, Donald,

That's me. Where am l?

Mathmagic Land,

Mathmagic Land? Never heard of it.

It's the land of great adventure,

Well, who are you?

I'm a spirit, The true spirit of adventure,

That's for me! What's next?

Ajourney through the wonderland of mathematics,

Mathematics? That's for eggheads.

Eggheads? Now, hold on, Donald,

- You like music, don't you? - Yes.

Well, without eggheads, there would be no music,

Come on,

Let's go to ancient Greece, to the time of Pythagoras,

the master egghead of them all,

Pythagoras?

The father of mathematics and music,

Mathematics and music?

You'll find mathematics in the darndest places,

Watch,

First we'll need a string,

Stretch it good and tight,

Pluck it,

Now divide in half,

Pluck again,

You see? It's the same tone, one octave higher,

Now divide the next section,

And the next,

Pythagoras discovered the octave had a ratio of 2:1,

With simple fractions, he got this,

And from this harmony in numbers

developed the musical scale of today,

By golly!

You do find mathematics in the darndest places.

You can imagine how excited Pythagoras was

when he shared his findings with his pals,

a fraternity of eggheads known as the Pythagoreans,

They used to meet in secret

to discuss their mathematical discoveries,

Only members were allowed to attend,

They had a secret emblem,

The pentagram,

Let's see what the topic is for today,

What's going on?

lt's a jam session.

Give me something with a beat!

So from these eggheads, the Pythagoreans,

with their mathematical formula,

came the basis of our music of today,

Pythag, old boy, put her there.

Well, l'll be a pi-squared egghead!

It was our old friend Pythagoras who discovered

that the pentagram was full of mathmagic,

The two shorter lines combined exactly equal the third,

And this line shows the magic proportions

of the famous golden section,

The second and third lines exactly equal the fourth,

Once again, we have the golden section,

But this is only the beginning,

Hidden within the pentagram

is a secret for creating a golden rectangle,

Which the Greeks admired

for its beautiful proportions and magic qualities,

The star contains the golden rectangle many times over,

It's a most remarkable shape,

It can mathematically reproduce itself indefinitely,

All these rectangles have exactly the same proportions,

This figure also contains a magic spiral

that repeats the proportions of the golden section

into infinity,

To the Greeks, the golden rectangle

represented a mathematical law of beauty,

We find it in their classical architecture,

The Parthenon,

perhaps one of the most famous

of early Greek buildings,

contains many golden rectangles,

These same golden proportions

are also found in their sculpture,

In the centuries that followed,

the golden rectangle dominated

the idea of beauty in architecture

throughout the western world,

The cathedral of Notre Dame

is an outstanding example,

The Renaissance painters knew this secret well,

Today the golden rectangle

is very much a part of our modern world,

Modern painters have rediscovered

the magic of these proportions,

Indeed, this ideal proportion

is to be found in life itself,

Boy, oh boy, oh boy!

This is mathematics?

l like mathematical figures like that.

- Can we try it? - No,

ldeal proportion.

Not quite,

I'm afraid not,

Well, we can't all be mathematically perfect,

Oh, yeah?

There, l knew l could do it.

Now that you're all pent up in a pentagon,

let's see how nature uses this same mathematical form,

The petunia,

The starjasmine,

The starfish,

The wax flower,

There are literally thousands of members in good standing

in nature's Pythagorean society of the star,

All nature's works have a mathematical logic

and her patterns are limitless,

The magic proportions of the golden section

are often found in the spirals of nature's designs,

The profusion of mathematical forms

brings to mind the words of Pythagoras,

Everything is arranged according to number

and mathematical shape,

Yes, there is mathematics in music, in art,

in just about everything,

And as the Greeks had guessed,

the rules are always the same,

Did you enjoy your geometrical journey?

Gee, Mr Spirit,

there's a lot more to mathematics than two times two.

That's right, Donald,

And you can find mathematics in games too,

Games? Oh, boy!

Let's begin with a game that's played on squares,

Checkers?

- No, chess, - Chess?

A mathematical contest between two minds,

It's a game that has been enjoyed for centuries

by kings and commoners,

In fact, Lewis Carroll,

a famous mathematician with a literary mind,

used chess as a setting for his classic tale

Through The Looking Glass.

Alice found herself face to face

with a none-too-friendly group of chess pieces,

Good heavens! What's this?

Upon my soul! lt appears to be a lost pawn.

l'm no pawn. l'm Donald Duck.

He says he's Donald Duck.

Preposterous.

Or it could be an Alice.

Alice?

No. lt's a lost pawn.

Lost pawn?

- Stop that pawn. - Help!

Mr Spirit, help!

That was close!

Now you can look at this game from a safer perspective,

Chess is a game of calculated strategy,

And since the board is geometrical,

the moves are mathematical,

Checkmate, and the game is over,

That's very interesting. What's next?

Practically all games are played on geometrical areas,

The baseball field is a diamond,

Oh, boy!

And without mathematics, we couldn't even keep score,

Football is played on a rectangle

divided by yard lines,

Basketball is a game of circles,

spheres and rectangles,

Even hopscotch has its multiple squares,

What's next? Tiddlywinks?

No, A mathematical game

played on a field of two perfect squares,

using three perfect spheres

and a lot of diamonds,

In other words, billiards,

Oh, boy! That's for me!

You know the game, don't you, Donald?

Of course.

The cue ball has to hit the other two balls,

like this.

Now let's see how an expert at three-cushion billiards

uses his head,

Three-cushion?

The cue ball not only has to hit both the other balls,

but it must contact at least three cushions

before it hits the final ball,

One, two, three,

It takes an expert to make several shots in succession,

One, two, three, four, five, six,

That was a lucky shot.

Luck? No, It's skill,

For this game, you have to know all the angles,

That's amazing. How does he do it?

First there's technique,

He's striking the cue ball low

so it'll spin backwards,

Hitting the ball on the right side will make it hug the rail,

These trick shots take a lot of practice,

He missed it!

What's so mathematical about that?

This game takes precise calculation,

He figures out each shot in his head,

He could play it like this,

but it calls for quite a bit of luck,

There is a better choice,

For this, he uses the diamond markings on the rail

as a mathematical guide,

First he figures the natural angle

for hitting the object balls,

And then he finds that his cue ball

must bounce off the number three diamond,

Next he gets ready for the shot,

and he needs a number for his cue position,

This calls for a different set of numbers,

Very confusing, isn't it?

Not when you get the hang of it,

You see, the cue position is 4,

Now, a simple subtraction,

So if he shoots for the first diamond,

he should make it,

It's called playing the diamond system,

Natural angle, 2,

Cue position:

So shoot halfway between the first and second diamonds,

There's nothing to it. Let me try.

Let's see, now.

lf l set it here and l bounce there,

l got... No, here.

lf l set it here.

Then... divided into...

l guess l should shoot about here.

There's no guesswork to mathematics,

It's quite simple,

Natural angle for the hit, 2,

Cue position, 31/2,

How much is 31/2 minus 2?

Hey, it works!

lt's a cinch.

lf l hit it here, add 31/2 plus 4 to 41/2 minus three, that's...

..divided by 1 ...

You're making it tough for yourself, Donald,

How do you like that for mathematics, Mr Spirit?

Wonderful, Donald,

And now you're ready for the most exciting game of all,

And the playing field for this game is in the mind,

Look at the condition of your mind,

Antiquated ideas, Bungling,

False concepts,

Superstitions, Confusion,

To think straight, we'll have to clean house,

There, That's more like it,

A nice clean sweep,

This game is played with circles and triangles,

Think of a perfect circle,

A perfect circle,

Perfect circle,

Perfect,

Put a triangle inside and turn it,

Now spin the circle, And what have you got?

A ball.

Yes, a sphere,

It's the shape of things as first discovered in the mind,

Slice off the top and we have a,,,

A magnifying glass.

That's right, A lens is a section of a sphere,

All optical instruments are created through mathematics,

You see, there's a lot more to mathematics

than just numbers and equations,

Let's get back to our circle and triangle,

Roll it and we have a,,,

A... a wheel.

The circle has been the basis

for many of man's important inventions,

The mind can create the most amazing things,

If we spin the triangle, we have a,,,

- Cone. - Slice the cone,

The cone is full of useful mathematical shapes,

Slice it again, Slice it several times,

The orbits of all planets and satellites

can be found in the cone,

No matter how you slice it, it's always mathematics,

A slice like this gives us the reflector of a searchlight,

A slice like this, the mirror of a giant telescope,

A line on a cone, and we have a drill,

And a spring,

Now you're ticking,

Number, please?

The mind is the birthplace

for all of man's scientific achievements,

The mind knows no limits when used properly,

Think of a pentagram, Donald,

Now put another inside,

A third and a fourth,

No pencil is sharp enough

to draw as fine as you can think,

And no paper large enough to hold your imagination,

In fact, it is only in the mind

that we can conceive infinity,

Mathematical thinking has opened the doors

to the exciting adventures of science,

l'll be doggone!

l've never seen so many doors before.

Each discovery leads to many others,

An endless chain,

What's the matter with these doors?

These doors won't open. They're locked.

Of course they are locked,

These are the doors of the future,

and the key is,,,

Mathematics.

Right, Mathematics,

The boundless treasures of science

are locked behind those doors,

In time they will be opened

by the curious and enquiring minds of future generations,

In the words of Galileo,

mathematics is the alphabet

with which God has written the universe,

Benjamin Franklin was one of the most extraordinary men

of the 1 8th century.

Philosopher, inventor and patriot,

he rose from obscurity

to become one of the greatest figures

in American history.

ln our struggle for freedom,

much credit must be given to this illustrious...

..mouse, for it was Amos who was really responsible

for the great deeds attributed to Benjamin Franklin.

And here's the proof in his own words.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia,

in the old church on Second Street,

Our home was in the vestry, behind the panelling,

There were 26 children in the family,

and with that many mouths to feed,

we were naturally quite poor,

In fact, as poor as church mice,

And since I was the oldest,

I determined to set out into the world and make my own way,

If I was successful, I could help the others,

But in any case, there'd be one less mouse to feed,

It was the winter of 1 7 45,

and these were desperate times,

Jobs were scarce, especially for a mouse,

Well, we were a downtrodden race,

Good morning, madam.

Could you use a handy mouse?

Mouse?

By nightfall, I was becoming desperate,

If I didn't find shelter soon, I'd be done for,

My last hope was an old run-down shop

near the edge of town,

A sign over the door read:

Benjamin Franklin, printer and bookbinder,

Perhaps I could find shelter here, just for the night,

Upon entering a strange place, I always took one sniff as a precaution,

Printer's ink,

Fresh paper,

Old books,

And no cats,

And just about as cold as it was outside,

The place was full of strange contraptions,

Tangles of wire,

And a little round-faced man

trying to write by candlelight,

Good day, Mr... Franklin.

Could you use a...

Oh, dear. Don't tell me.

My last pair.

What'll l do?

Now l'll never get my paper out.

l'm tired of his excuses.

He'll settle up right now.

Here they come again.

..settle up. Open up.

Open up, Franklin. We know you're in there.

- Pay the rent or get out. - We want our money.

You've got just 24 hours, then l'm taking your press.

- And your business. - We're taking everything.

lt's your last chance, Franklin.

Remember, 24 hours.

You can come out now, Mr Franklin. They've gone.

- 24 hours. Oh, what's the use? - But you can't give up.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, Mr Franklin.

My name's Ben. Plain Ben.

And just what would you do, whatever your name is?

My name's Amos. One of the church mice from over on Second Street.

And the first thing l'd do is figure a way to heat this place.

All your heat's going up the chimney.

And what would you propose?

Put the fire in the middle of the room.

Nonsense. You want to burn the place down?

Make something out of iron to put it in.

Say, that might be an idea.

Fixing Ben's glasses was quite a problem,

He had broken his outdoor pair

as well as his reading glasses,

Well, there was only one thing left,

Try to make one pair out of the two,

Let me see, now.

lf l put...

Perhaps if l...

Yes.

There we are.

What will l do with the smoke?

Use a pipe.

Run it over to the chimney.

I admit the stove wasn't much to look at, but at least,,,

lt works, Amos.

Naturally.

Say, l wonder if we couldn't make these things and sell them.

Call it the Franklin stove.

- Why, maybe someday... - Yeah, maybe someday,

but right now, Ben, would you mind trying these?

We have work to do.

- Will they do? - Will they?

Why, Amos, this is a great idea.

Two-way glasses.

By George, bifocals!

This your paper?

That's it, Amos. Poor Richard's Almanac,

Sunrise 6.22, sunset 7.43.

High tide 4.20.

A cat in gloves catches no mice.

Poor Richard's Almanac, Poor indeed.

But, Amos, consider all the information...

lnformation? Ben, when the sun's up, it's up.

Why read about it?

Well, what would you suggest?

First l'd give it a new name.

Something snappy, like... the Gazette,

- The Pennsylvania Gazette, - Sounds all right.

And then tell them what's going on.

Give them some news. Real news. Wake them up.

But where will l get news at this hour?

l'll get it for you.

Hold everything, Ben, till l get back.

[men] d ..a jolly good fellow

d Which nobody can deny d

The night watch. Disgraceful.

But what about the judge?

A few pounds took care of him.

Good. Now to fill our pockets, eh, Jonathan?

And due to our inadequate fire department,

the building was a total loss.

Damage estimated at £490l1 2sl6d.

- Got that, Ben? - Right, Amos.

Then let's go to press.

Lower case T.

Upper case S.

Upper case A.

Lower case T.

Upper case S.

Space.

Semicolon. Another space.

Upper case R. Lower case O.

Upper case E. Lower case T.

Space.

Upper E.

Lower R.

Say, this fellow Franklin comes right out with it, don't he?

- Sure does. - Well, look at this!

- The baker's wife. - Triplets. Well, l...

Did you read this? More taxes in '46.

They say there was a fire on Chestnut Street last night.

Well, he's got everything in here. Some paper!

- Seen Franklin's new paper? - Yeah. The Pennsylvania Gazette,

By evening, everyone in Philadelphia

was reading the Gazette,

Well, Amos, we're a success.

What a day!

Now l can pay my bills and you can have cheese.

Good night, Ben.

Good night, Amos.

Whenever Ben appeared in public,

he kept me under his hat,

There was a small door in the front

so I could step out on the brim,

Thus I was able to observe and offer advice

without being seen by others,

l say, isn't that young Franklin?

Why, yes.

Good day, Ben.

Good day, Mr...

Governor Keith and Dr Palmer.

l read your new paper, my boy.

Congratulations.

First-rate.

Keep up the good work.

Thank you, Your Excellency. l shall do my best.

- Bright young chap. - Yes, indeed.

Very alert. Seems to know what's going on.

Just think, the governor spoke to you.

You see, Ben, people are beginning

to sit up and take notice.

Yes.

We're really getting someplace.

Nothing can stop us now.

Post, Ben.

How do you do, Mr Post?

Oh, my goodness. What have l done?

As the years passed, Ben's reputation grew,

Letters poured in from all over the colonies,

Requests for money, for information on inventions,

advice in business, and even for advice to the lovelorn,

I spent all my spare time answering them,

And meanwhile Ben puttered around with his experiments,

You should have seen yourself.

That was the funniest...

Where are you going?

- l'm leaving. - Leaving?

Can't you take a little joke?

Joke? You call this a joke?

But, Amos, l didn't mean it.

Now, please don't go. l'll never do it again.

Well... No more tricks, now. Promise?

Yeah, l promise.

It was shortly thereafter that Ben took up kite flying,

To the framework of his largest kite, he fastened a small box,

For it was his idea that I become

the world's first flying reporter,

I was so enthralled with the spectacle spread out below

that I failed to notice a sharp pointed wire

fixed to the kite just above my head,

I was the victim of a plot,

Speak to me.

Was it electricity?

Goodbye and for ever!

Please. Amos. Wait!

And so I left Ben

and returned to my family in the old church,

in the vestry, behind the panelling,

The years that followed were troubled ones,

The rumours of violence had ended,

Loud talk of stamp taxes and other outrages,

How about it, men? Are we gonna stand for this?

No taxation without representation.

It was during this crisis that Ben was chosen

to go to England to lay our case before the king,

And now all the colonies anxiously awaited his return,

What happened, Ben?

What about the taxes? Will he lift them?

What did the king say?

Gentlemen, l'm afraid the mission was a failure.

The king was unreasonable. He wouldn't listen.

All right, then. We'll fight for our independence.

There has to be war.

War? But, gentlemen, there must be some other way.

Some other way? What way? We've got to fight.

What if we lose? We'll hang for treason.

- What will we do, Ben? - Yes, what'll we do?

lf l only knew.

Poor Ben,

I couldn't help feeling sorry for him,

It was a heavy responsibility,

I could help him, I knew I could,

But no,

I couldn't go back,

After all, a mouse has a little pride,

It was a night in the summer of 1 776

that I was awakened by a voice calling my name,

Now, who could it be at this hour?

Well... What do you want?

Well, l... That is...

l've come to ask if...

Oh, Amos, come back to me, would you, please?

Out of the question.

Please, Amos. Consider your country.

My country?

There are big decisions to be made.

l know. l know all about it.

l need you. You've just got to come back.

- On my own terms? - Yes.

lf l write an agreement, will you sign it?

l'll sign it. l'll sign anything.

Very well. You shall have the agreement

first thing in the morning.

And wherefore... and whereto...

How many ''to''s in it?

Will not tolerate...

Yes, whereas under these conditions...

that are... binding...

Absolutely binding.

Good day, Ben.

Come in, Amos.

Here, let me take your hat and coat.

Nice weather we're having.

Now, could l pour you some tea?

And we'll get on to my problems.

lf you don't mind, will you sign this first?

Yes, of course.

- Mind if l read it? - lf you wish.

Are you there?

lt's Tom Jefferson.

Come in, Red.

- You've got to help me. - Of course...

l've been racking my brains, working day and night,

but it's no use. l'm stuck.

But, Red, l thought it was finished.

lt is!

But l don't like the beginning.

lt just doesn't sound right.

Listen to this.

The time has come

when we, the people of these colonies...

Not big enough.

How about this?

Now is the time when we, the people...

Not strong enough.

The time is at hand

when we, the people, must...

You see what l mean?

lf l could only find the words.

How about our contract?

No, Amos. Not now.

Yes, now, or l'm leaving.

When in the course of human events

it becomes necessary...

That's it!

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary

for one people to dissolve the political bands

which have connected them with another,

and to assume among the powers of the earth

the separate and equal station

to which the laws of nature...

..of this declaration,

with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence,

we mutually pledge to each other

our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honour.

On July 4th 1 776

the Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress,

I was very proud to have had a small part

in the creation of this great document,

And so we are gathered here today

to pay our respects to...

Benjamin Franklin.

For he was truly

one of the greatest figures in American history.

Museum of modern marvels.

Let's all go in.

What a place!

Welcome, sir.

Who are you?

l'm the robot butler, sir.

Oh, yeah?

So what?

- Your hat, sir. - Let go of my hat!

l'll get you for this.

Thank you, sir.

Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?

You big boob.

So.

Wonderful.

lsn't that nice?

What's that?

Hitch-hiker's aid.

What are you trying to do, put my eye out?

Your hat, sir.

Give me back my hat, you big boob.

So.

Fabulous. Stupendous.

Marvellous. Magnificent.

Bundle-wrapper.

Hands off! Do not touch!

Your hat, sir.

l've never been so mortified in all my life.

So.

A baby buggy.

d Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top

d When the wind blows the cradle will rock

d When the bough breaks the cradle will fall

d And down will come baby, cradle and all d

This little piggy went to market.

This little piggy stayed home.

This little piggy went...

..all the way home.

l want my bottle!

Baby hungry?

There.

- Baby fall. - What's the big idea?

Let me go!

Baby wants more?

No more, doggone it.

Now. Mama fix.

He's Mama's little lamb, he is.

No. Hold still.

Let me go! What do you think l am?

There, darling.

Mama kiss. Make it better.

Well, l'll be doggone!

Your hat, sir.

Let go of my hat!

Come back here!

So.

That's for you.

A barber chair.

Say, this is a pretty swell outfit.

Oh, yeah?

Yes, sir. What'll it be?

Give me the works.

The works? You betcha.

Sorry, sir. My mistake.

Haven't l seen you before?

l never forget a face.

Nice day, sir. Lovely weather we're having.

Clippers on the side?

Getting a little thin on top.

That should be taken care of.

- Now the hot towel. - Let me up!

That reminds me of a little story.

lt seems that...

A little too hot?

We'll put the part right in the middle.

This is the latest creation

and should be very becoming to you.

Brings out your personality.

Very snappy.

How's that?

There you are.

You look like a new man.

Much obliged. Call again.

Your hat, sir.