[math-fun] Magic by Numbers
Amusing observations; from the NYT no less: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/opinion/17gilbert.html ³Well, on the one hand, most people have five fingers, and on the other hand, most people have five more.²
Funsters, As Chief of Content at the Museum of Mathematics, http://momath.org/, which will open in New York City in 2012, I am in the midst of designing dozens of hands-on exhibits which convey the richness of math to the public (of all ages). The best exhibits are usually interactive, open ended, and visually engaging. We need to touch on many branches of mathematics beyond the school curriculum. I have been gathering ideas from many sources, but have not sent out a call to this math-fun list. So I'd be interested to hear suggestions for novel exhibits that you feel would help make MoMath the coolest hands-on museum anywhere while conveying mathematical ideas and ways of thinking. George http://momath.org/ http://georgehart.com/ P.S. Gyroid sculpture barn raising this weekend in D.C.: http://www.georgehart.com/DC/
Given the location, metrics -- especially the Manhattan Metric (aka Taxicab Geometry) ! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicab_geometry --- The bathrooms _have_ to have some aperiodic and/or Penrose tiling! At 05:43 AM 10/18/2010, George W. Hart wrote:
Funsters,
As Chief of Content at the Museum of Mathematics, http://momath.org/, which will open in New York City in 2012, I am in the midst of designing dozens of hands-on exhibits which convey the richness of math to the public (of all ages). The best exhibits are usually interactive, open ended, and visually engaging. We need to touch on many branches of mathematics beyond the school curriculum. I have been gathering ideas from many sources, but have not sent out a call to this math-fun list. So I'd be interested to hear suggestions for novel exhibits that you feel would help make MoMath the coolest hands-on museum anywhere while conveying mathematical ideas and ways of thinking.
George http://momath.org/ http://georgehart.com/
P.S. Gyroid sculpture barn raising this weekend in D.C.: http://www.georgehart.com/DC/
i remember several exhibits at the museum of science and industry in chicago from my high school days. one had ping pong balls (or marbles?) falling down through a grid of pegs that caused the paths to become random. at the bottom, a bell-shaped curve gradually formed as more and more balls collected there. another popular display was wire frames dipped into a soap solution. these formed either 3-d minimal surfaces or steiner trees. bob --- George W. Hart wrote:
Funsters,
As Chief of Content at the Museum of Mathematics, http://momath.org/, which will open in New York City in 2012, I am in the midst of designing dozens of hands-on exhibits which convey the richness of math to the public (of all ages). The best exhibits are usually interactive, open ended, and visually engaging. We need to touch on many branches of mathematics beyond the school curriculum. I have been gathering ideas from many sources, but have not sent out a call to this math-fun list. So I'd be interested to hear suggestions for novel exhibits that you feel would help make MoMath the coolest hands-on museum anywhere while conveying mathematical ideas and ways of thinking.
George http://momath.org/ http://georgehart.com/
P.S. Gyroid sculpture barn raising this weekend in D.C.: http://www.georgehart.com/DC/
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Those are both from the Mathematica exhibit by Charles and Ray Eames, which began in California; it was later moved to New York. Duplicates were made for Chicago (the one you saw) and the 1964 World's Fair; the Chicago one moved to Boston and the World's Fair one went to Seattle, and is now in Atlanta. On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 21:17, Robert Baillie <rjbaillie@frii.com> wrote:
i remember several exhibits at the museum of science and industry in chicago from my high school days.
one had ping pong balls (or marbles?) falling down through a grid of pegs that caused the paths to become random. at the bottom, a bell-shaped curve gradually formed as more and more balls collected there.
another popular display was wire frames dipped into a soap solution. these formed either 3-d minimal surfaces or steiner trees.
bob
-- Robert Munafo -- mrob.com Follow me at: mrob27.wordpress.com - twitter.com/mrob_27 - youtube.com/user/mrob143 - rilybot.blogspot.com
Here are two things I have been working on. Two screen savers that use the web-cam video input to influence the pattern of: 1. A Gray Scott reaction-diffusion simulator, and 2. Conway's Game of Life. mrob.com/pub/comp/screensavers/index.html Using video input for non-contact interactive control -- here is a screen shot of a Mandelbrot set explorer I have been working on that uses hand gestures to zoom in and out: mrob.com/pub/comp/screensavers/images/mandelshock-1.png All of these use the graphics card to perform all the computation, and are easily feasible on fairly cheap commodity hardware. The video signal is brightened or dimmed as needed, adapting to all brightnesses from full daylight down to "lit only by the glow of the screen". - Robert Munafo On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 08:43, George W. Hart <george@georgehart.com> wrote:
Funsters,
As Chief of Content at the Museum of Mathematics, http://momath.org/, which will open in New York City in 2012, I am in the midst of designing dozens of hands-on exhibits which convey the richness of math to the public (of all ages). The best exhibits are usually interactive, open ended, and visually engaging. We need to touch on many branches of mathematics beyond the school curriculum. I have been gathering ideas from many sources, but have not sent out a call to this math-fun list. So I'd be interested to hear suggestions for novel exhibits that you feel would help make MoMath the coolest hands-on museum anywhere while conveying mathematical ideas and ways of thinking.
George http://momath.org/ http://georgehart.com/
P.S. Gyroid sculpture barn raising this weekend in D.C.: http://www.georgehart.com/DC/
-- Robert Munafo -- mrob.com Follow me at: mrob27.wordpress.com - twitter.com/mrob_27 - youtube.com/user/mrob143 - rilybot.blogspot.com
participants (5)
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George W. Hart -
Henry Baker -
Marc LeBrun -
Robert Baillie -
Robert Munafo