Donald in MathMagic Land

Donald in MathMagic Land is a curious half hour cartoon that sees Donald transported to a magical world of mathematics to learn all about how maths isn't just about adding but is part of history, art, nature and forms the building blocks of life itself.

It's a charming, fun cartoon that manages to impart its educational content in an entertaining way.  Donald meet Pythagoras and learns about the 'golden section' and 'golden rectangle' as well as the pentagram.  We are taught how these occur in nature and how they were the basis for a lot of classical architecture.

The reason for including this cartoon here is because partway through, Donald finds himself on a chess board dressed as Alice from Wonderland.  Donald in drag is quite the sight!  Encountering the Red and White chess pieces, Donald is effectively in Through the Looking Glass before finding himself at a billiards table where he learns to use maths and angles to pot a ball.

Donald also finds out about various inventions and how maths plays a part in their shape and how they work before pondering on the concept of infinity.

For a cartoon, it covers some surprisingly complex mathematical concepts and manages to impart them in a digestable, understandable way.  Donald is such an endearing character that it makes it easy to do and he was definitely the right choice for this cartoon - as oppose to Mickey or Goofy.

This is a great piece of Disney fun.