On 2017 April 19, in collaboration with talkSTEM, I designed and led a math tour of the campus of Southern Methodist University. The set of posts just completed prior to this one describe all of the different places we stopped and mathematical ideas and phenomena we observed and discussed. We hope that these glimpses of […]
As you’re taking a stroll down Bishop Boulevard on the campus of Southern Methodist University, stop a moment to enjoy the stately trees that line the avenue. There are many different aspects of trees that one can look at from a mathematical persepctive, but we’re going to take a look at how the tree branches, […]
Nestled in a courtyard of the Divinity School at Southern Methodist University, you will find the Habito Labyrinth. Labyrinths are actually in themselves a subject of study and interest to professional mathematicians, but before we get into that, let’s first ask whether a labyrinth is a maze. That’s of course a matter of terminology, but […]
Another three quickies, this time about the iconic sculpture “Wave” by Santiago Calatrava. (1) Is this sculpture curved or straight? (2) Is it symmetric? (3) How did Calatrava get each one of the copper beams to stay at the particular angle it sits at? Again, it’s best to give participants time to chew on these […]
During the math tour I gave on the campus of Southern Methodist University, I was given the challenge of estimating the seating capacity of the Ford Stadium, never having seen it before and without any prior information about the stadium. To recap the techniques that I used, I first broke down the seating sections into […]
Here are three quick questions concerning the Hillcrest Amphitheater in the Lyle School of Engineering on the campus of Southern Methodist University. First, if you laid a plank of wood on top of the seats, and another plank on top of the steps, and a third on top of the hand rails, which would have […]
Here’s a picture of one of the spouts of the Cooper Centennial Fountain in the Turner Quad on SMU campus. Do you notice anything of interest about the way the water falls? One thing that many people notice is that the water flows in toward the center on either side of the stream. Why would […]
Directly in front of Dallas Hall is the Class of 1916 Sundial. But over the years it has developed a problem: there’s nothing on it to cast a shadow! The piece that’s missing is called the style — a thin rod whose shadow lines up with one of the hour markings on the face of […]
The dome of Dallas Hall at Southern Methodist University is one of the most beautiful, striking, and symmetric structures on the entire campus.The entire structure has 16-fold rotational symmetry: if you stand at the center of the rotunda, look up at the dome, and then turn one-sixteenth of a full rotation, you will get exactly […]
The front of the Blanton Student Services Building poses a geometric puzzle. Or rather, the columns do: are the sides of the columns vertically straight, or do the columns become narrower as they go up? Of course, they appear narrower toward the top, but everything looks smaller the farther away it is. So how can […]