As I was rifling through my mail pile this morning, I came across a recent edition of Science News - the subscription for which I retain cuz I just KNOW it'll be useful in the classroom someday. The title article, 'No yarn! Crocheting (and knitting) Math' caught my eye. It begged further investigation, and lo, there was a whole spread about men and women of numbers using knitting and crocheting to visualize complex structures! Awesome. So, for those of us who can't recall (or never knew!) a hyperbolic plane from a Lorenz manifold here are a few examples showing how art supports science. I wonder if physic's string theory has also come from off the needles?
Check out Knit Theory! for another view on this nexus between math and the stringed arts.
Lorenz Manifold
A crocheted Lorenz manifold brings the shape's swirls into sharp relief.
Hyperbolic Fabric - Many of the lines that could be inscribed on this crocheted hyperbolic plane curve away from each other, defying Euclid's parallel postulate.
Doughnut Math - The two tori below display a network (left) and a colored map of countries (right) that can't be depicted on a flat sheet of paper without crossings and overlaps.
Hyper Growth - Because the hyperbolic plane grows exponentially, the violet outer boundary consumes as much yarn as the deep-purple center section does.
I love those geometric knitting accomplisments
Posted by: John Eden | January 17, 2007 at 12:25 PM