Week 2

An origami snake -- made by folding one piece of paper

What fascinated me most was a TED talk given by Robert Lang titled The Math and Magic of Origami. During the summers growing up I participated on a recreational swim team and during swim meets we would make cootie catchers to entertain ourselves in between events. 

Cootie Catcher 

I had always just copied the older kids, without thinking exactly how I was creating the cootie catcher. Until watching this TED talk, I never thought of cootie catchers as art, let alone math. I did not really think of origami as art either, but Lang explained and showed what some people could create just by folding paper and their creations are a real talent.

Origami flag made from a single piece of paper

Template for a cootie catcher 

Lang also explained some of the math that goes into making origami artwork, and it is much more than one would think. There are certain rules, like that at any interior vertex the number of mountain or valley folds must differ by two and that all even numbered angles add up to a straight line.

He also explained how science is involved in the art and math of origami with the development of computer programs to help the artist with the math to bring their abstract idea into a base form. Scientists and mathematicians have also used origami for practical purposes like making space telescopes and even items we rely on everyday like airbags.

Jackson Pollock's artwork 

It also amazed me how much art there is in nature, and how it is related to math as well. Spirals and fractals are seen in countless places in nature, like the branching tendencies of trees, seashells, pinecones and sunflowers. Artists recreate things in nature, often without knowing the math behind what they are doing, much like when I was a child and copying the older children without knowing there was any math involved. Jackson Pollock was such an artists that included the mathematics of fractals in his artwork but was harshly criticized by those that did not realize the math that was involved. 

Field of sunflowers -- shows spirals 

Branching pattern of trees shows spirals

Work Cited

"African Fractals." African Fractals. Culturally Situated Design Tools, 1 Jan. 2003. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

Fibonacci, Fractals and Financial Markets. YouTube, 2007. Film.

Lang, Robert. "Origami Science Links." Origami Science Links. 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <http://www.langorigami.com/science/sciencelinks.php>.

The Math and Magic of Origami. TED Talks, 2008. Film.

Ouellette, Jennifer. "Pollock's Fractals." Discover Magazine. Discover Magazine, 1 Nov. 2001. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.