By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics
In 1995, I designed this hypothetical construction and posted a computer rendering of it online. It is called “Nailbanger’s Nightmare” because I thought it was far more complex than any carpenter would ever want to make.
After fifteen years, I was surprised to receive an email from Thomas Guethner of Trostberg, Germany, showing me that he has constructed a physical version of the structure. There are 480 wooden struts (60 in each of 8 slightly different lengths) all held together with 960 screws. The result is half a meter in diameter.
Thomas tells me “I want to thank you very much for this fantastic idea to get rid of some scrap wood.”
Then I was surprised again when just a few weeks later I received images of another approach to making Nailbanger’s Nightmare, this time from Canada. David Gunderson, at the University of Manitoba Mathematics Department, is developing an approach in which the struts have slots cut into their ends. The image shows how the sticks assemble with a friction fit.
More:
- Math Monday: Recycling soda bottles into icosahedra
- Math Monday: Two-layer geodesic spheres
- Math Monday: What to make with golf balls?
- Math Monday: Knitted cellular automaton tea cosy
- Math Monday: Whittling links and knots
- Math Monday: Magnet constructions
- Math Monday: Hexagonal stick arrangements
- Math Monday: Paper plate geometry
- Math Monday: 3D Hilbert curve from plumbing supplies
- Math Monday: Math-play with your food
- Math Monday: Mathematical art in the lava
- Math Monday: Balloon polyhedra
- Math Monday: Sierpinski tetrahedron
- Math Monday: Skewer hyperboloid
- Math Monday: Morton Bradley sculpture
- Math Monday: Tetraxis puzzle
- Math Monday: Giant burr puzzles
- Math Monday: Fractal polyhedra clusters
- Math Monday: Giant SOMA puzzle
- Math Monday: Tie your bagel in a knot!
- Math Monday: Playing card constructions
- Introducing “Math Monday”
ADVERTISEMENT
