Infinite Tiles Infinitely Enrich
Most people usually wouldn’t consider going to a mathematics talk as fun, but the Infinite Enrichment series of presentations on the Mt. Hood campus take the fundamental concepts of math you know and use them to create an engaging talk for all who come to learn much more.
Put on by the Dead Mathematicians Society, the Infinite Enrichment series normally takes place over several Friday afternoons every Spring Term – from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Room AC 1657.(The final discussion for this school year comes Friday, May 17.)
Put on by the Dead Mathematicians Society, the Infinite Enrichment series normally takes place over several Friday afternoons every Spring Term – from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Room AC 1657.
(The final discussion for this school year comes today, Friday, May 17.)
To fully enjoy the presentations, one must have their fundamentals of math down, such as shapes and basic arithmetic.
I attended a recent IE presentation on tessellations, presented by Alex and Wini Benvenuti. Alex is a current high school student, while their grandmother, Wini, is a retired math instructor at MHCC. Over the course of an hour, the pair led a discussion on tessellations, which ware is where a geometric shape, or recurring shape pattern, is used to cover a surface, leaving no gap.
These tessellations often make beautiful patterns, many of which you can see in the real world in tapestry or other forms of art.
Starting with just one type of shape, participants made tessellations, then moved on to introducing multiple kinds of shapes into the tessellation. We learned just what mathematically makes a tessellation a tessellation.
I won’t bore you with the precise formulas – but I will add that to end the presentation we experimented with tessellation cookies!
It proved a very engaging hour; time flew by as I learned something brand-new. You need to be there to get the full experience, which I definitely recommend.
Friday’s final topic is a very interesting one: Nick Chura, a mathematics instructor at MHCC, will go through a interactive presentation relating the Japanese-based art of origami, folding paper into various shapes, to math.
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