Happy New Year, and welcome to this week’s Math Munch!

Next week, the Math Munch team will be part of a Mathematical Art seminar, so we are featuring some great art.

Möbius Strip II (Red Ants) | M.C. Escher

Check out the Möbius strip.  It’s a topological space you can make by by putting a twist in a looped strip of paper.  It has the bizarre property of being one-sided!  Here’s a video of someone making it, but the music is pretty strange.  I found some Möbius info on an amazing math website called Cut The Knot.  Click here, here and here for three different Möbius pages.

Möbius Strip I | M.C. Escher

M.C. Escher popularized the Möbius strip by featuring them in his famous and mathematical prints.  The picture to the right gives you some idea what happens if you cut a Möbius strip in half.  You could give that a try.

If you look at these pictures, you’ll see why mathematicians love Escher’s art so much.  Escher liked to play with the impossible in his art, but several mathematicians have made his dreams reality.  Take a look at this site called Escher For Real.  If you liked that, check out the sequel, Beyond Escher for Real.

And of course, Vi Hart has done it again, this time with two pieces of Möbius art.  First, Vi bought a DIY (do-it-yourself) music box and wrote a Möbius song!  You can get your own music box here.  She also wrote a Möbius story called Wind and Mr. Ug, and the video is embedded below.

Hoping you have a mathematical week.  Bon appetit!