Light, Math, & Color: 2014 Edition

For several years now I’ve taught a three-week course on making artglass windows. After learning the basic technique, I ask each student to research a math-related topic and illustrate it with an artglass window. This year’s group did exceptionally good work! The projects ranged from perennial favorites like the Pythagorean Theorem and tessellations to some new topics –  tesseracts, Borromean Rings, and Johnson’s Circle Theorem.

Pictures of their projects are below:

Howard: The Four-Color Theorem

Compton: Sierpinski Triangle

McCarthy: Tessellation

Boyd: Co-Eutrignon Theorem

Webber: Borromean Rings

Jenkins: Properties of Parallel Lines and Transversals

Nutter: Tesseract

Trabue: Johnson’s Circle Theorem

Cobb: Fibonacci Numbers

Harrison: Exterior Angles in a Polygon

Bennett: The Golden Ratio

Lazenby: Sierpinski Triangle

Johnson: Angle Bisector Theorem

Horner: Circle Inscribed in a Triangle

Burkart: Exterior Angles of a Polygon

Draughn: Circle Inscribed in a Triangle

Hulme: Parallel Planes

Triplett: Midpoint of Hypotenuse Properties

Lund: Congruent Angles Formed by Parallel Lines and a Transversal

Farrington: Pythagorean Theorem

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Vectors and Tessellations

This quarter’s project for my geometry students was to create a tessellation using vectors and Geometer’s Sketchpad. It’s a lot of fun, and they made some beautiful patterns. I have lots of M. C. Escher prints in my classroom, so when they finally get a chance to see the geometry behind his designs, they really enjoy it.

Here’s an example:

You can see all of my students’ tessellations here.