Math and Fashion

Date: 01/27/2003 at 09:01:39
From: ally
Subject: What does Math have to do with Fashion?

My teacher is asking us what math and fashion have in common and 
how math is used for fashion.

Date: 01/27/2003 at 12:39:58
From: Doctor Ian
Subject: Re: What does Math have to do with Fashion?

Hi Ally,

Well, you have to buy materials, which means you have to deal with
money, so you have to be able to do arithmetic.

If you're making lots of clothes, you'll want to be able to find ways
to lay patterns out efficiently - that will require geometry, probably 
algebra, and maybe even calculus. 

If you want to set up a manufacturing process, you would probably want
to be familiar with control theory, and perhaps calculus. 

If you're really trying to be creative, topology might be useful in
helping you think up new ways to get clothes onto and off of bodies. 
(For example, pants normally have three 'holes' in them - one for the
waist, and one for each leg. But diapers have _no_ holes in them - you 
wrap them around the baby and fasten them. It might be interesting to 
take a few minutes to think about why they are designed that way.) 

If you want to design cloth patterns, it would be useful to study
tesselations, and perhaps abstract algebra. 

Does this help? 

- Doctor Ian, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/