Welcome to this week’s Math Munch!
… And, if you happen to write the date in the European way (day/month/year), happy Noughts and Crosses Day! (That’s British English for Tic-Tac-Toe Day.) In Europe, today’s date is 11/12/13– and it’s the last time that the date will be three consecutive numbers in this century! We in America are lucky. Our last Noughts and Crosses Day was November 12, 2013 (11/12/13), and we get another one next year on December 13 (12/13/14). To learn more about Noughts and Crosses Day and find out about an interesting contest, check out this site. And, to our European readers, happy Noughts and Crosses Day!
Speaking of Noughts and Crosses (or Tic-Tac-Toe), I have a new favorite game– Quarto! It’s a mix of Tic-Tac-Toe and another favorite game of mine, SET, and it was introduced to me by a friend of mine. It’s quite tricky– you’ll need the full power of your brain to tackle it. Luckily, there are levels, since it can take a while to develop a strategy. Give it a try, and let us know if you like it!
Looking to learn about some new mathematical artists? Check out this article, “When Math Meets Art,” from the online magazine Dark Rye. It profiles seven mathematical artists– some of whom we’ve written about (such as Erik and Martin Demaine, of origami fame, and Henry Segerman), and some of whom I’ve never heard of. The work of string art shown above is by artist Adam Brucker, who specializes in making “unexpected” curves from straight line segments.
Another of my favorites from this article is the work of Robert Bosch. One of his specialities is making mosaics of faces out of tiles, such as dominoes. The article features his portrait of the mathematician Father Sebastien Truchet made out of the tiles he invented, the Truchet tiles. Clever, right? The mosaic to the left is of the great mathematician Gauss, made out of dominoes. Check out Robert’s website to see more of his awesome art.
Finally, it snowed in New York City yesterday. I love when it snows for the first time in winter… and that got me wanting to make some paper snowflakes to celebrate! Here’s a video by Vi Hart that will teach you to make some of the most beautiful paper snowflakes.
Hang them on your windows, on the walls, or from the ceiling, and have a very happy wintery day! Bon appetit!
Math Munch 
Meant to add this on “noughts and crosses” day. Great differentiation tool for the classroom “thoughts and crosses” http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Differentiation-tool-Thoughts-and-Crosses-6179959/
Did you come up with these your self or do you watch videos on how to make them. I learned a lot in this video. i always make my snowflakes with four folds and they never looked that good. But now i’ m going to do it the way you do it!!!
i tried to play QUARTO i’m not really good at it. it was a little hard i like your snowflake video
well I like the game Quarto it was confusing and hard I never won and I tried every level but it was really fun.
It is so cool how you can make so many variations of snowflakes! The various patterns and styles are very creative.
Even though snowflakes are actually a tiny dot of snow, making these snowflakes are really pretty against my window for this Christmas. It was really enjoyable watching you make snowflakes out of paper.
It seems that a lot of mathematical concepts are implemented into art. Do artists study these to help improve their work?
I completely lost Vi Hart at 2:30, the whole circular symmetry was really confusing.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I had to watch the video a couple of times with scissors and paper in hand to figure it out. Try doing what she does and pausing the video as you go? Good luck!
I learned that math and art can relate in some ways like symmetry or 3d shapes.
Hi Samantha! That’s an awesome comment. I love how math and art relate. Enjoy!
I suggest they make this video a bit slower so the watcher can watch and (if desired) replicate the snowflakes made in this video.
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What does a paper snowflake if it is made from a mobius strip?
Hi Jake! That’s a great question. Some students in my math class were actually working on that the other day. The results are pretty cool– give it a try!
So creative! Patterns and tessellations are beautiful. Could it be used to make a 3-D snowflake?
A 3-D snowflake!!! That sounds awesome. I bet you could use individual snowflakes as the sides of polyhedra… The cutouts would look even better if you put a light inside…
Thanks to Vi hart, I finally know how to make a perfect star out of paper!
Super initfmaorve writing; keep it up.
why does it absolutely have to be six folds or a multiple of six? whats the difference between the snowflake when you 4 fold or 6 fold if you do the exact same pattern.
The snow flakes that vi hart made were really complex and unique but it was really hard to keep up with her and what she was saying. In the end I learned how to make a (near) perfect star!
when i tried to make a snowflake it didn’t look like any snow flakes vi hart made in her video how can I make my snowflake look better?
Reblogged this on Math Munch and commented:
This week we hope you’ll enjoy this flashback to December 2013! Grab your scissors, string, and dominoes and get started!
i think that it i very interesting that math and art can relate and i learned that there is different ways to make the math art.