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Home > 2009 Mathematical Art Exhibition
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"The Path Crumpled Paper Takes," by Jeanette Powers, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO (2008)
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Ink and paper, 11" x 15". "A classic example to explain fractal dimension is the piece of crumpled paper. In this example, one takes a sheet of paper to be 2 dimensional (ignoring the very thin thickness). This then is a good representation of the mathematical plane. However, if we crumple the paper into a ball, as seen below the frame, it seems to take on a volume, or third dimension. Now, there is a meta-level to the inter-dimensionality of this system. If one flattens the paper back into the two dimensional sheet of paper, then one can draw a continuous line ( in blue) of all the folds that happened during the crumpling process. Now a line is considered to be one dimensional, but is the space this line takes up really best described with only one dimension?" --- Jeanette Powers, Student, Physics and Math Department, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO
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The connection between mathematics and
art goes back thousands of years. Mathematics has been
used in the design of Gothic cathedrals, Rose windows,
oriental rugs, mosaics and tilings. Geometric forms were
fundamental to the cubists and many abstract expressionists,
and award-winning sculptors have used topology as the
basis for their pieces. Dutch artist M.C. Escher represented
infinity, Möbius bands, tessellations, deformations,
reflections, Platonic solids, spirals, symmetry, and
the hyperbolic plane in his works.
