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Uncategorized Friday, June 8th 2012 at 11:41 am

Neil deGrasse Tyson Calls Out Some Fuzzy Math in Prometheus

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Everyone knows that sci-fi movies are going to fudge their science a bit, otherwise they wouldn’t be sci-fi. That said, some fudges are just mistakes and they can be glaring if you know your stuff. Acclaimed astrophysicist and meme Neil deGrasse Tyson — the man who called out Titanic for having “the wrong sky” — is still out there doing what he does best: Busting chops. This time, he’s got Prometheus in the sights.

“Half billion” sounds big on its own, but in an astronomical context, it’s really not. “Just past Jupiter” gives you some idea, but if you break down the math, you’ll see it’s laughably small. One light year, just one, is 5.88 trillion miles, which is 5,880,000,000,000 miles. 35 light years is  205.8 trillion miles, so “a half billion” is six orders of magnitude off.

That said, it’s not the most offensive error ever and probably the symptom of laziness more than anything else. I’m pretty sure that one would have slipped past me if I were watching the movie, or even if I’d been writing it, but I’m no spacestrophysicist. The lesson here is that you should have some math people check your math, or rather, have them check to make sure you actually did some math.

Errors and less-than-perfect reviews aside, we’re still pretty excited for the film. I mean, if the teasers are this good, the movie has to be pretty watchable. They could refer to light years as a measurement of time for all I care. Besides, I’m sure they’ll blow up plenty of things to make up for the space-math gaffe, and that’s good enough for me.

(via @neiltyson)

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  • Triple Steak Guy

    This is a pretty minor offense, compared to how consistently awful the writing was throughout the film.

  • Dr Coene

    The film was disappointingly full of vacuous “it’s what I choose to believe” nonsense, not to mention some glaring plot holes. Not to mention the only character in the film who had any character was a f—ing robot. That being said, phenomenal action, special effects and suspense. Probably the single best looking film I’ve ever seen. If only the film wasn’t full of irrational faith based mind rot, unbefitting of a science fiction film.

  • Anonymous

    Say, Professor:  Jon Stewart’s opening STILL has the Earth rotating the wrong way.  My cat woke me up at dawn, and the sun was in my face LOOKING EAST.

  • Asreal

    I don’t think the faith stuff was quite *that* bad personally.  I do think that quite a lot didn’t make the final cut (such as when infected geologist appears on the ramp and attacks people).

    I can’t wait for the extended edition, even if it is a shameless lucus-esque means of milking a film multiple times for revenue (Starwars VHS/remastered/DVD/Blu ray editions anyone?).

    But yes, an excellent film; it was refreshing to see something make good (but not over the top) use of 3D for once.

  • Dr Coene

    The faith parts were absolutely, unfathomably, irrevocably awful. It can not be overstated how monumentally insipid this blithering inanity proved to be, and how tragically the film was ultimately betrayed by it. It is the equivalent of using “it is what it is” as the underlying basis for a doctorate dissertation. Horrifyingly, heartbreakingly stupid, utterly overshadowing and negating every ounce of good work that may have been done. It gores the film like a spear in a pig.

  • Dr Coene

    Also, I hope they cut the film into a director’s cut, excluding all of the excruciatingly stupid parts that were forced into it, as has been done with Blade Runner. However, I am not holding my breath. I believe this one is lost.

  • Fakil87

    Prometheus is the worst film ever created 

  • That Guy

    How do you really feel?

  • Me

    Have you never heard of hyperbole.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1343266237 William Sheehan

    The faith based mentality and the mathematical gaff of “.. half a billion miles…” completely watered down the movie.  They could have stuck to the science a little closer and it would have really cleaned it up, making it a great movie and not just an OK movie.  In my opinion, I felt the cost of the ticket to see it was not a good value.

    Wish I can get some of my money and time back for it.

  • MathNoob

    Here are some interesting numbers from the film.
    The Prometheus left Earth on 6/22/2091 and arrived at LV 233 on 12/21/2093 so, about 2.5 yrs or 21,900 hours. The distance traveled was 3.27 x 10^14 or 327000000000000 miles, So they had to travel 14,931,506,849.315 mph, yet the speed of light is 670,616,629 mph. So they had to be travelling 289966210.62764 miles per second faster than the speed of light.

  • Martin

    1/2 billion miles traveling in a straight line short distance… Now 1/2 billion miles through bent space that will get you very far!