TRMS director Rob Katko shares:
Paper snowflakes = math
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Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:18 PM EST
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Oh, I think I've found a new hobby!! Petersen graphs were driving me crazy anyway!!!
"The problem with folding paper is that it gets thick." Yep. Perhaps the non mathematically inclined would be surprised at the answer to the following:
Q: Fold a piece of paper in half 50 times. How thick is the resulting piece of folded paper?
Say .002" sheet thickness: 17,769,884+ miles? That can't be right...
I'm gonna go cut snowflakes... simple snowflakes.
I dont think you can fold a piece of paper more than 8 times. no mater how big or thin a piece you start with.
someone's going to luz an eye,, a lot of dialogue, was that a wedding flick?
LocknPost- you were on the right track- it is a very big number.
Normal ("20 pound") copier/ computer printer paper is about .004" (.1mm). Typical paper for business correspondence is 50% thicker.
Folded 50 times, the paper is a little bit less or a little bit more than the distance to the sun (150 million kilometers- about 93 million miles). 1 astronomic unit.
Math- first fold is 2 thicknesses, then 4, 8, 16... an exponentiation function. So calculate 2^50 then multiply times the paper thickness.
That made my brain hurt. Wish I was better at math :/
It sort of "made my brain hurt," too, but I found myself smiling all the way through and a little sad when it ended.
Thanks, Will!
I am sooo dizzy!
For those who haven't seen her (Vi Hart's) videos before, there are hours to be lost right there. Recommended.
But I'm wondering when there will be a Moment Of Geek segment about the just opened Museum of Mathematics (http://momath.org) right there in Manhattan.
The first thing I noticed is, a darn female is narrating the video!!. Women !! I now believe they may have invented most of these darn holidays ! Bad old females !
A snow flake, really ? Only a woman could may me feel so small. Or the universe. They are both very scary. Just saying . …..
Frost formation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qA6rmw-Dkc
Macro snowflakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJDeoah-Cd0
Fun to watch but chatty kathy wasn't exactly easy to follow.
I got distracted by the scissors. I was afraid for her, of her. #SafetyFirst
ViHart [ http://vihart.com ] is awesome, even if she talks too fast for us old people. Oh, and (I think) her dad is a curator of the Museum of Mathematics mentioned in MalcomT's comment.
paper snowflakes = papercuts = me :)
Pretty cool.
Those interested in shapes with differing types of symmetry should look up 'Penrose tiling', which is a family of space filling patterns with 5-fold symmetry. This is no small feat -- just try tiling a floor with pentagons.
Western mathematicians discovered these patterns in the 1970's, and then realized they had been represented in Islamic art since at least the 10th century.
Talk about cool!
I may not be able to do this, but I love that somebody can (and did!).
This is not very difficult. But i will try to this.
Tutor online