Math Monday: Paper plate geometry

Science
Math Monday: Paper plate geometry
Math_Monday_banner_600px.gif

Math Monday: Paper plate geometry

By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics

paper-plates-1.jpg

The raw material for making mathematical constructions can be found all around you. Bradford Hansen-Smith makes intricate geometric sculptures entirely from paper plates. The above icosahedral form is assembled from eighty folded plates that interlock.

paper-plates-2.jpg

This helical form is constructed from 128 paper plates.

paper-plates-3.jpg

This crystal lattice is made from 181 plates.

paper-plates-4.jpg

And this exponentially-branching construction consists of 517 paper plates!

More:

4 thoughts on “Math Monday: Paper plate geometry

  1. Rowley says:

    I’ve been to the WholeMovement.com website. Your browser will be informed that visiting this website will harm your computer. Navigating between any two pages of the website will require that you click not one but two “ignore warning” boxes, every time. Makes visiting the site kind of frustrating.

    I spent enough time there to find steps for basic paper plate folding, accompanied by some rather cryptic instructions and uninformative drawings. If there are instructions there for folding any of the excellent examples given above, I have not found them yet.

    The site seems to be structured to hide just enough information to get you to buy something, rather than to give you real information that would make you WANT to buy something. And the language is rather sloppy; a visitor there would not be able to learn how or when to use the plural form “polyhedra” of the word “polyhedron.”

    Sorry to post and complain… but I got more from viewing George Hart’s short intro to the site here than from the site itself. (And I would really like to know that the malware issues with the site, as warned against, have been eliminated.)

    I can give you the gist of the site in these words:
    Fold paper plates in half;
    fold the halves in half;
    fold a halved plate into thirds to create a circle with 3 diameters, dividing the circle into six sections;
    eyeball the sections equal;
    hold plates together with bobby pins in different combinations.

    That’s it, pretty much.

    I wouldn’t buy anything from the site or download anything (unless you’re using a Mac) until they iron out the suspected malware problems and get rid of the warnings.

    1. Gareth Branwyn says:

      Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Rowley. This did not happen when I checked the link before posting the piece, but I’m getting that warning screen now, on my Mac/Mozilla.

      I’ll message George and Bradford Hansen-Smith and try and get this resolved ASAP.

      Sorry for the inconvenience.

Comments are closed.

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK