Math + Making

A student blog for Math 189AH: Making Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College

Tag: geometry

  • Revisiting Hexaflexagons and Minimal Surface Bubbles

    Revisiting Hexaflexagons and Minimal Surface Bubbles

    Surface Minimizing Bubbles The Math Behind Surface Minimizing Bubbles: As mentioned in the previous blog post bubbles find the minimum surface bounded by a shape. A minimal surface is defined as “having a total curvature equal to zero in every point.” However if air gets trapped in the bubble, the bubble will no longer have…

  • Surface Minimizing Bubbles

    Surface Minimizing Bubbles

    We used soap bubbles to find minimal surface area shapes. These surfaces, given a closed shape, will span the shape using the least area. Using Zometool to make various shapes, we made some fascinating surfaces. Making Shapes Zometool is a plastic construction set that is often used for making mathematical structures. It is simple to…