Art and Mathematics

Date: 2/8/96 at 10:35:44
From: Anonymous
Subject: Art and Math

Do you know many ways that art can be linked to mathematics?  
Any ideas? Let Me Know! 
Thanks,
Rob

Date: 3/9/96 at 23:48:37
From: Doctor Jodi
Subject: Re: Art and Math

Hi Rob! Thanks for your question.  There are lots of ways 
to link math and art.  

Here are some of my favorites:

TESSELLATIONS
looking at examples in M.C. Escher drawings 
making your own with Key Curriculum's TesselMania and/or paper 
   cutouts

more info on tessellations at 
http://mathforum.org/sum95/suzanne/tess.intro.html   

POLYHEDRA
making models with scissors, glue, and cardstock
with nifty plastic polyhedra that snap together (Polydrons)
watch movies like Key Curriculum's StellaOctangula (activity book too)
and Dance of the Platonic and Archimedian Solids (Olaf Holt/Geometry 
Center) and Mad about Mirrors (Anna Gardberg/Geometry Center)

more info on polyhedra at 
http://mathforum.org/sum95/math_and/poly/polyhedra.html   

KNIT A MOBIUS BAND

directions at 
http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/docs/doyle/mpls/handouts/node15.html   

I know someone who tried it--it worked and is pretty cool.

SEW POLYHEDRA, HYPERBOLIC CLOTH
By sewing equilateral triangles together, you can make polyhedra (with 
2-5 triangles per vertex), a flat plane (more or less) with 6 triangles, 
and a piece of the Hyperbolic plane with 7 or more triangles.

REALLY neat, write back for further explanation if you need it.

So there are just a few ideas to get started on.  Write us back if you 
need more suggestions or details. And let us know how it goes...

-Doctor Jodi,  The Math Forum

Date: 3/22/96 at 23:48:37
From: Doctor Jodi
Subject: Re: Art and Math

Hello again!  I hope you're finding interesting things.  Sarah, the 
web archivist here, suggests looking at 

http://mathforum.org/~sarah/shapiro   

which is a web unit on Geometry through Art by Norman Shapiro

-Doctor Jodi,  The Math Forum