And collapsible hexagons are, I suppose, cool enough to at least amuse you a little bit during your class...
October 1, 2012 2:14 PM Subscribe
Previously (but not a dupe).
This Wikipedia article on Flexagons is the first result for a search on Arthur H. Stone. The second is an article on Hexaflexagons and Other Mathematical Diversions (Google quickview of original PDF), with a bit more background on the 23-year-old Mr. Stone who first noticed the fascinating properties of the flexagons. The third link is, oddly enough, an interview from 1997, with then 81-year-old Stone, on topic topological.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:23 PM on October 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
This Wikipedia article on Flexagons is the first result for a search on Arthur H. Stone. The second is an article on Hexaflexagons and Other Mathematical Diversions (Google quickview of original PDF), with a bit more background on the 23-year-old Mr. Stone who first noticed the fascinating properties of the flexagons. The third link is, oddly enough, an interview from 1997, with then 81-year-old Stone, on topic topological.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:23 PM on October 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
I think Vi Hart may be the coolest person alive. Seriously.
posted by Malor at 2:36 PM on October 1, 2012 [13 favorites]
posted by Malor at 2:36 PM on October 1, 2012 [13 favorites]
Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, extremely cool.
I'm showing this to the mathematician I keep on retainer.
posted by entropone at 2:36 PM on October 1, 2012
I'm showing this to the mathematician I keep on retainer.
posted by entropone at 2:36 PM on October 1, 2012
This video has finally, for the first time in my life, instilled in me the slightest bit of interest in math.
-- item
Surely this isn't the first time?
posted by gray17 at 2:43 PM on October 1, 2012
-- item
Surely this isn't the first time?
posted by gray17 at 2:43 PM on October 1, 2012
Holy... What the... Stop doing that. Eventually you're going to flip it around to the face where Great Cthulhu slumbers, dreaming his terrible dreams. "Blue face, green face, blue face, yellow face, blue face again, AAARGH R'LYEH FACE!"
posted by The Bellman at 3:14 PM on October 1, 2012 [11 favorites]
posted by The Bellman at 3:14 PM on October 1, 2012 [11 favorites]
Make your own custom hexaflexagon with your own uploaded images.
Flexagon Creator
Here's a company brochure in the form of a hexaflexagon
posted by Nyrath at 3:21 PM on October 1, 2012
Flexagon Creator
Here's a company brochure in the form of a hexaflexagon
posted by Nyrath at 3:21 PM on October 1, 2012
The most interesting thing about Flexagons was the involvement of Feynman and Tukey.
posted by Slothrup at 3:25 PM on October 1, 2012
posted by Slothrup at 3:25 PM on October 1, 2012
I love that woman's voice. I would hire her to follow me around and narrate things.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 3:29 PM on October 1, 2012 [13 favorites]
God, her voice is cute. Like, I'm a dad and have a baby girl cute. Not the other one.
posted by clvrmnky at 5:26 PM on October 1, 2012
posted by clvrmnky at 5:26 PM on October 1, 2012
So never leave anything next to Vi Hart in study hall, because she'll color everything with markers and cut it up and fold it into crazy patterns and she'll understand why they do things like this, and you won't, and you'll be totally out of notebook paper and feel dumb.
posted by xingcat at 6:02 PM on October 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by xingcat at 6:02 PM on October 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
Cooooool. Love the voice, too!
posted by michellenoel at 7:11 PM on October 1, 2012
posted by michellenoel at 7:11 PM on October 1, 2012
I was like, "Surely I can think of something better to say in this thread than 'I LOVE MATH'?"
But I cannot. I LOVE MATH. Math is the BEST.
posted by sc114 at 7:23 PM on October 1, 2012
But I cannot. I LOVE MATH. Math is the BEST.
posted by sc114 at 7:23 PM on October 1, 2012
I just watch her parabola video, and a bit after 4:30 she remarks, "Any collection of circles is two-colorable." I think I've just been nerd-sniped. Any collection of circles will be planar, so it's clearly four-colorable, but I can't get any lower. Bah!
posted by d. z. wang at 7:27 PM on October 1, 2012
posted by d. z. wang at 7:27 PM on October 1, 2012
I first leaned about these from Steve Caney's Toy Book when I was six, they're awesome.
Actually the whole book is awesome.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 7:37 PM on October 1, 2012
Actually the whole book is awesome.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 7:37 PM on October 1, 2012
As a LabVIEW programmer who also works with industrial communication protocols, Vi Hart's name makes me laugh.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 7:40 PM on October 1, 2012
posted by Confess, Fletch at 7:40 PM on October 1, 2012
I just watch her parabola video, and a bit after 4:30 she remarks, "Any collection of circles is two-colorable." I think I've just been nerd-sniped. Any collection of circles will be planar, so it's clearly four-colorable, but I can't get any lower. Bah!
This isn't a proof, but it should make it seem plausible: color the plane white. Every time you add a circle to the plane, each point on the plane that falls in the added circle gets its color inverted (from white to black or vice versa). The result of this should always be a valid coloring.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:47 PM on October 1, 2012
This isn't a proof, but it should make it seem plausible: color the plane white. Every time you add a circle to the plane, each point on the plane that falls in the added circle gets its color inverted (from white to black or vice versa). The result of this should always be a valid coloring.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:47 PM on October 1, 2012
I love that woman's voice. I would hire her to follow me around and narrate things.
I was tearing out my hair trying to figure out why her cadence is so familiar and I finally got it: Lev Yilmaz.
posted by The Bellman at 8:04 PM on October 1, 2012
I was tearing out my hair trying to figure out why her cadence is so familiar and I finally got it: Lev Yilmaz.
posted by The Bellman at 8:04 PM on October 1, 2012
jpfed: oh neat! I was trying like mad to find a way to express the idea of "adding a circle" in graph theory, because that's the only place I've ever seen colorability. But, yes, once you show me that construction, it's trivial to construct the corresponding graph and coloring thereof. Thanks!
posted by d. z. wang at 8:06 PM on October 1, 2012
posted by d. z. wang at 8:06 PM on October 1, 2012
And a googling shows that my argument can be made rigorous (skip to assignment 1 problem 3).
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:20 PM on October 1, 2012
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:20 PM on October 1, 2012
I love that woman's voice. I would hire her to follow me around and narrate things. Dear God, no! It'd be worse than tinnitus. You can fix typos now! Cool, (not that I had one).
posted by epo at 12:04 AM on October 2, 2012
posted by epo at 12:04 AM on October 2, 2012
Man that's cool.
This is even cooler than the Edit Window.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:32 AM on October 2, 2012
This is even cooler than the Edit Window.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:32 AM on October 2, 2012
I love that woman's voice. I would hire her to follow me around and narrate things.
I was tearing out my hair trying to figure out why her cadence is so familiar and I finally got it: Lev Yilmaz.
Really? To me, it's clearly Felicia Day on her day off.
posted by talitha_kumi at 2:42 AM on October 2, 2012
I was tearing out my hair trying to figure out why her cadence is so familiar and I finally got it: Lev Yilmaz.
Really? To me, it's clearly Felicia Day on her day off.
posted by talitha_kumi at 2:42 AM on October 2, 2012
The main thing Vi Hart has taught me is this: I used to think i was good at geometry, now i know i'm not.
In school, i was pretty bad at math; it just never clicked for me. I liked what i could do with math (Standard Deviation to this day is awesome to me), but i always got poor grades and always hated the frustration i'd feel from not understanding.
But geometry? Geometry i got. I looked at the shapes and just understood them in a way that i couldn't other types of math. I considered myself good at it; good enough to do proofs in my spare time, good enough to think "i really am good at this kind of math."
Then Vi came to youtube. I realized i wasn't good at all; that i was merely - at best - sort of poor-average, and that all my life i'd mislead myself.
The truth's always good to learn, but sometimes it hurts.
posted by dethb0y at 3:06 AM on October 2, 2012
In school, i was pretty bad at math; it just never clicked for me. I liked what i could do with math (Standard Deviation to this day is awesome to me), but i always got poor grades and always hated the frustration i'd feel from not understanding.
But geometry? Geometry i got. I looked at the shapes and just understood them in a way that i couldn't other types of math. I considered myself good at it; good enough to do proofs in my spare time, good enough to think "i really am good at this kind of math."
Then Vi came to youtube. I realized i wasn't good at all; that i was merely - at best - sort of poor-average, and that all my life i'd mislead myself.
The truth's always good to learn, but sometimes it hurts.
posted by dethb0y at 3:06 AM on October 2, 2012
Then Vi came to youtube. I realized i wasn't good at all; that i was merely - at best - sort of poor-average, and that all my life i'd mislead myself.
Vi is great, but... please consider how much Vi doodles that does not get edited into a video and uploaded to youtube, and how many of her insights do not actually come from her doodling but are learned by normal means (with a textbook and hard work), and the advantages she has in coming from a mathematical family.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 5:06 AM on October 2, 2012
Vi is great, but... please consider how much Vi doodles that does not get edited into a video and uploaded to youtube, and how many of her insights do not actually come from her doodling but are learned by normal means (with a textbook and hard work), and the advantages she has in coming from a mathematical family.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 5:06 AM on October 2, 2012
Vi Hart justifies YouTube.
posted by kengraham at 5:35 AM on October 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by kengraham at 5:35 AM on October 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Ah, when it comes to flexagons, I just found the motherload
Flexagon.net
posted by Nyrath at 12:02 PM on October 2, 2012
Flexagon.net
posted by Nyrath at 12:02 PM on October 2, 2012
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