Math Circus!
Friday, September 10, 2021
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Gearhart Hall Courtyard
Want to weave a bamboo star –– or help us build a rainbow-bright bit of hyperbolic
geometry? Come on down to our three-ring Math Circus, the Honors College contribution
to the U of A’s 150th birthday celebration, Come as You Arkansas. All on campus and
in the community are invited and we’ll offer activities for all ages, from chalking
sidewalks to creating jumbo pop art that packs a mathematical punch.
The ringmaster will be mathematics professor and artist Chaim Goodman-Strauss. His
outreach began thirty years ago, when he managed to lure sleepy teens to the University
of Texas campus for interactive math shows on Saturday mornings. Over the years he
has developed toys, games, a podcast and community art events that explore topics
from the foundations of logic to the shape of the universe. In partnership with local
artist Eugene Sargent, Goodman-Strauss has created a series of mathematical sculptures
that were assembled on-site in Atlanta by attendees of the biennial Gathering 4 Gardner, honoring longtime Scientific American columnist Martin Gardner.
“There’s nothing like getting your hands on something to truly understand an abstract
concept – plus, it’s a lot of fun!” Goodman-Strauss said. “I’m looking forward to
working with our community to pull off something wonderful right here at the U of
A.”
The pièce de resistance will be that rainbow sculpture. Participants will assemble
puzzle pieces cut from kids’ playmats and learn a little differential geometry along
the way. “This frilly mathematical form appears all over nature –– in lettuces, kale,
coral –– and demonstrates the negative curvature of hyperbolic geometry. And it is
strikingly beautiful!”
Come lend us a hand – and get a look at just how beautiful mathematics can be!
Photo courtesy National Museum of Mathematics momath.org.