By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics Cellular automata are mathematical systems that can generate surprisingly complex patterns from very simple rules. Camilla Fox worked out a way to knit cellular automata patterns by using two colors of yarn. One of the two colors is brought to the front for each stitch according to […]
We’ll call it Math Wednesday. Marc de Vinck turned me on to these amazing fluid-based polygons and polyhedra: When a vertical water jet strikes a circular horizontal impactor, the water is deflected into a horizontal sheet. At sufficiently high speeds, the flow results in a circular water sheet, whose radius is set by a balance […]
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics Whittling is a traditional technique for making one-of-a-kind objects that doesn’t get enough attention nowadays. A time-old method of demonstrating one’s whittling technique is to carve linked objects from a single piece of wood. The above step-by-step guide shows four stages in making a pair of linked […]
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics What cool things have you made with magnets lately? Anything like the above dodecahedral construction? These geometric sculptures are the creations that resulted from Robert Hodgin playing with thousands of small magnetic spheres and cylinders. I especially like his geometric forms which remind me of Ernst Haeckel’s […]
Math Monday: Hexagonal stick arrangements By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics Interpenetrating hexagonal arrangements of sticks are a challenging mathematical exercise to assemble from pencils. Four different directions are used, as color-coded here. The above sculpture, 72 Pencils, has tiny dots of glue to hold itself together, but you can easily use eight […]
Math Monday: Paper plate geometry By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics The raw material for making mathematical constructions can be found all around you. Bradford Hansen-Smith makes intricate geometric sculptures entirely from paper plates. The above icosahedral form is assembled from eighty folded plates that interlock. This helical form is constructed from 128 […]
Balloon polyhedra By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics For making mathematical models of polyhedra, a convenient and inexpensive material is the long clown balloon. This dodecahedron (made of ten balloons) and icosahedron (made of six balloons) are two examples from a study of Mathematical Balloon Twisting by Erik Demaine, Marty Demaine, and Vi […]
