The kids are back in school, or your neighbors’ kids are anyway. What about you? Have a yen to learn something new? How about a little non-Euclidean math that describes the shape of the universe? But trying to understand hyperbolic space is awfully abstract (even the term is a little scary though undeniably enticing). Wouldn’t it be more fun to, well, wrap not just your mind but your hands around the concept?
If you live in Vermont, you can take a math craft class at Burlington’s The Bobbin, a Sew Bar + Craft Lounge. But if you can’t find a class near you, no matter. Read “Move Over String Theory, It’s Yarn’s Turn,” then buy a skein of acrylic yarn (it works better for creating a hyperbolic shape than wool, which is less stiff) and a size F (or 5) crochet hook. Cast on 6 stitches, make a circle and start applying the ratio of N + N + 1, which is double-crochet (N), double-crochet (N), then double-crochet twice in the same loop (+1). Basically, you’re increasing by 1 every 3rd stitch.
Anyone can crochet — men, women, boys, girls, probably monkeys. If you don’t know how, start with How to Crochet: Lesson 1. Go on to lesson 2, then do the N + N + 1. If you make a mistake, who cares? This is supposed to be fun.
However, if crocheting is really not your thing, you can still achieve a better understanding of the higher math concept of hyperbolic space through crochet. Check out “Margaret Wertheim on the Beautiful Math of Coral” on TED.com, one of my favorite sites. Wertheim explains her project, which re-creates coral reefs using crochet to model hyperbolic geometry. Even if you never made it to trig, this talk is not over your head.
If you’re getting excited by all this — if you yearn to understand the parallel postulate and the Poincaré disc model of hyperbolic space — see the Hyperbolic Space Online Exhibit at the Institute for Figuring (IFF).
And the next time you’re making small talk, throw in a little hyperbolic this and pseudosphere that. Because isn’t the shape of the universe just plain cool?
P.S. I am slowly crocheting my own hyperbolic pseudosphere.
P.P.S. Write me a comment! Let me know what you think about Geek on the Cheap or what you want cheap.
Carleen Hutchins, who I’d never heard of until today, died this past Friday at 98. What an interesting woman! After receiving a BA in biology from Cornell in 1933, she followed the then-common career path for college-educated women: teaching degree and marriage. But her life took a thrilling turn in 1947 when — unhappy with the viola she was playing — she decided to build herself a violin and became an innovator in the field. But my favorite story about her is when she stole a shelf from a phone booth at Columbia U with her friend Dr. Virginia Apgar (creator of the Apgar score), who thought it would make the perfect back for a violin. It did.
