Origami, Art and the realm of mathematics

People pictured birds, fish or frogs made of sharply creased paper when the word origami comes to their mind. However, origami can be used to conjure up images of fantastically complex organic and geometric shapes, of axioms and algorithms, which can be used in applications ranging from safer airbags in cars to the deployment in outer space of telescopes 100 meters or more. Paperfolding offers innumerable challenges, both theoretical and practical and does so in a way that appeals to mathematicians aesthetic sensibilities in diameter. In principle and in practice are often two different things and over the last five years, educators have tried to combine mathematics, art, history, and culture together with origami. Robert Lang is famous for his work in this field and he managed to bring theory and practice together. Lang, an engineer at JDS Uniphase, in Santa Clara, California, is one of the leading origami designers in the world. He doesnt use much origami in his day job, but he does use engineering principles in designing origami. In particular, he has developed a computer algorithm, called TreeMaker, for the design of complicated origami objects, such as multilegged insects or an antlered moose. The following examples are interesting studies and applications derived from research on complexity in origami.

Robert Langs Scorpion

The blueprint above is obtained by unfolding the paper scorpion shown on the left. The lines formed in the blueprint are good resources in geometer, topology and Golden Ratio.

Tomoko Fuses sturdy paper pot

The example below shows Tomoko Fuses origami design to make a paper pot. When folded, the lens takes the shape of an open can. The pictures showed Tomokos team folding the paper pot using the blueprint shown on top left hand corner. One of the important design criteria, to simplify the hinging, was that all the folds be single-layeri.e., accordian pleating rather than the double folding used for, say, a business letter. Another, crucial criterion was that the folding/unfolding sequence (the lens will actually spin itself open) not require any flexing of the panels.

Using origami to prove mathematical theorems

Suppose you fold a given point onto a given circle. This activity works well using waxed paper with the creases showing up as white lines. If the point lies outside the circle, the resulting creases define a hyperbola with foci at the given point and the center of the circle.

If the point lies inside the circle, the resulting creases define an ellipse again with foci at the given point and the center of the circle.

The discussion leading to a proof that the envelope of lines is a hyperbola or an ellipse is the kind of reflection that we want in our classes and reflects the depth of critical thinking you can achieve through paper folding.

The unity of Science and Art

The modernist view and belief that while art cycles with the fashions, scientific knowledge is a linear ascent is so deeply rooted, we believe that the history of science is supposed to obey a simple equation: Time plus data equals understanding. One day, science will solve everything. The fundamental point is that modern science has made little progress toward any unified understanding of everything. In order to get past the current scientific limitations, science needs arts. By heeding the wisdom of the arts, science can gain the kinds of new insights and perspectives that are the seeds of scientific progress. We have to look towards the eminent scientists ability to use metaphor to see what no one else had ever seen, so that the railroad became a metaphor for relativity, and a drop of liquid helped symbolize the atomic nucleus. Poets can speed this scientific process along, helping physicists to invent new metaphors and improve their old ones. A simple simile may

help unlock the secret of dark matter. As the string theorist Brian Greene recently wrote, the arts have the ability to give a vigorous shake to our sense of whats real, jarring the scientific imagination into imagining new things. We needed a third culture, which would close the communications gap between scientists and artists (C.P.Snow). Teachers can infuse scientific concepts into aesthetic art lessons. These lessons can help students develop metaphoric and systemic thinking. By providing richness, recursion, relations and rigor, we can help students achieve in diverse and creative ways.

DNA - The spiral staircase to Life

Jim Watson was invited to give a talk to the University of Cambridge Hardy Club. All he could manage to say of DNA was 'It's so beautiful, you see, so beautiful'". By 1982 the double helix was no less beautiful but it was no longer so simple. It was understood immediately that appreciating the visual beauty of DNA was not going to suffice for understanding how DNA worked. Out of this model was birthed the science of modern genetic engineering

A work to reflect the metaphor of DNA as a staircase

Actual model of DNA Natures design in molecules

Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a design discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating natures time-tested patterns and strategies, e.g., a solar cell inspired by a leaf. The core idea is that Nature, imaginative by necessity, has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with: energy, food production, climate control, non-toxic chemistry, transportation, packaging, and a whole lot more.

Diamond tetrahedral structure

Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers. They have found what works, what is appropriate, and most importantly, what lasts here on Earth. Instead of harvesting organisms, or domesticating them to accomplish a function for us, biomimicry differs from other "bio-approaches" by consulting organisms and ecosystems and applying the underlying design principles to our innovations. This approach introduces an entirely new realm for entrepreneurship that can contribute not only innovative designs and solutions to our problems but also to awakening people to the importance of conserving the biodiversity on Earth that has so much yet to teach us.

Fullerene structure

Geodesic design An Interdisciplinary approach to social science used in architecture

Using narration to teach chemistry, social science and geography

Role playing and the use of case studies are effective for demonstrating the 4Rs in integrating interdisciplinary contents. The students can be engaged in conversations with the teacher and learn to use concepts from one subject to solve problems that arise from another subject.

Case study 1: The story of Pinjra Begum

A cold, clear, sparkling flow gushes from the tube well where Pinjra Begum used to collect drinking water for her family. Married at age of 15 to a millworker, she had made a pretty bride. Soon, however, her skin began to turn blotchy, then ultimately gangrenous and repulsive. Her husband remarried and in 2000 she died of cancer, at 26 years of age. She left behind three children. Pinjra Begum was poisoned by the beautiful water she had faithfully pumped.

Fig 1.The gangrenes formed on natives poisoned by arsenic

Regular drinking water supply is a problem for hot countries like Bangladesh. In the 1970s and the 1980s, international agencies such as UNICEF sank millions of tube wells across the country in an effort to solve the problem of drought. After a period of time, it emerged that the water from these wells was contaminated with arsenic. The arsenic originated in the Himalayas by the breakdown of mica in rocks, from where it leached into water and then Fig 2.The first dug tube well combined with particles of iron hydroxide. This solid material was carried down by rivers and eventually settled, giving thick layers of sediments containing high concentrations of arsenic. Iron-seeking bacteria then attacked these particles, releasing soluble arsenic compounds into the water. The arsenic is now concentrated in groundwater up to 50 metres above the sediment. Water is tapped from this depth by wells that provide water for everyday use. Fig 3. Sharing of the arsenic contaminated water within the community

The water from these wells is now being tested for arsenic and results show that up to half of the countrys 10 million tube wells may be providing water that contains unsafe levels of arsenic. Those wells that have been declared safe are painted green and those wells that have unsafe levels of arsenic are painted red. However, there is a major problem in that checks have shown that the testing kits are regularly giving the wrong results and that some wells passed as safe contain more arsenic than was previously detected and vice versa. More accurate analysis has shown that two thirds of previously safe wells are dangerously contaminated and one-third of contaminated wells are actually safe. One way of solving the problem of drinking water which has high levels of arsenic would be to drill deeper wells, as tests show that wells sunk to a depth of 80 meters or deeper contain very little arsenic in the groundwater. An additional problem that has recently been highlighted is that water from these wells is also used to irrigate fields in which rice is grown. Tests for the levels of arsenic in this rice show that the concentration of arsenic present depends on the amount of arsenic in the local groundwater. It is not clear how much arsenic the body can absorb from contaminated rice, or, if when cooking rice, it can absorb even more arsenic from the water. Fortunately, some species of rice, spinach and beans do not accumulate arsenic even when they are grown in contaminated groundwater. Arsenic poisoning is a serious problem in Bangladesh and it is estimated that 10% of all deaths occurring in the south of Bangladesh will, within the next few years, be caused by arsenic poisoning.

Case study 2: The geographical landscape of Bangladesh

The Bengal Basin is a tectonically active subsiding depression formed at the junction of the Asian, Burmese and Indian plates, and is infilled with more than 15 km of marine and alluvial sediments of Cretaceous to Recent age. Throughout the Quaternary, the combined Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna (GBM) river system of Bangladesh has deposited a thick sequence of mixed alluvial and deltaic deposits in response to changes in sealevel rise and fall brought about by glacial cycles. Bangladesh is underlain by the Bengal delta, which formed by deposition of sediments from the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers. The sediment is mainly

sand and silt from the Himalayan highlands. The delta has a monsoonal climate, with alternating wet and dry seasons. The sedimentation rate is rapid, approximately 0.2 cm yr -1. Various facies of deposition can be seen within the alluvial fan deltas, fluvial flood plains and deltaic environments. Fine-grained deposits were laid down during periods with a relatively high sea level and correspondingly low-energy environment (so-called 'high-stand'deposits) whereas coarse-grained deposits characteristic of a high-energy environment formed during periods of glacial maximum or 'low-stand' times. As far as Bangladesh is concerned, the risk factor associated with water availability is one of ominous significance. Despite being a riverine country, 57 trans-boundary rivers of this country originate from different points in India while the rest are from Myanmar. Bangladesh already suffers a great deal of water related problems like arsenic poisoning (61 out of 64 districts are now affected), flooding, drought and river bank erosion most of which is due to man-made intervention like that of Farakka Dam along with constantly suffering from the effects of unequal distribution of Ganges's water which breaches the water distribution accord that was made with India in 1975.

Activity for the student:

You are a researcher and your research team arrived at a village in Bangladesh. Use the data provided and discuss the problems faced by the villagers. For each problem listed, identify at least one need you can provide service as a volunteer. Problems Possible community needs

Complete the flowchart below to show how arsenic particle can travel from the Himalayas to reach groundwater in the wells of Bangladesh.

Mica in the rocks from the Himalayas breaks down

Iron hydroxide particles in the water

React

Propose and design a filter system to the council that can be distributed in Bangladesh to remove majority of the arsenic particles so that the water is acceptably safe for consumption.

A group of students measured the quantity of arsenic samples of two different varieties of rice before, and after, cooking in arsenic contaminated water. The results are shown in the table.

Sample Before cooking / g

A B 19.2 28.8

Mass of arsenic After cooking / g

19.2 57.6

(a)

State the factor that should be kept constant so that the two samples can be compared.

(b)

State two conclusions that can be made about the results.

(c)

The mass of rice sample A before cooking was 50.0 g. Calculate the concentration of arsenic in g per kg.

Network theory and the teaching of mathematics

Mowat and Davis bring forth the proposition that network theory, with its hubs and nodes frame, helps educators to understand and work with the teaching of mathematics. They use network theory to analyze associations among mathematical concepts, focusing on their embodied nature and their reliance on metaphor. The key idea is that mathematics should be understood as a system of concepts or ideas. This system thinking that stemmed out of complexity allowed us to move away from a focus on discrete objects of observation toward their fluid interconnections The diagram below shows the level of mathematical relationships and the authors suggest that employing networks to represent both mathematical understanding at the subjective level and mathematical knowledge as a field of study (the inner and outer nested forms) may shed new light on mathematical cognition.

Network theory analysis also assists mathematics educators to gain valuable guidance for the generation of collective knowledge in classrooms and in the organization of mathematical knowledge as portrayed in curricula.

Example:
ARITHMETIC IS MOTION ALONG A PATH metaphor links the source domain of the physical experience of moving in a line from one location to another to the target domain of arithmetic. ARITHMETIC IS MOTION ALONG A PATH can be blended with ROTATION BY 180 to form a conceptual blend that accounts for MULTIPLICATION BY A NEGATIVE NUMBER

The concept of MULTIPLICATION tends to be constrained by definitions of repeated addition and grouping. These interpretations work well for elementary arithmetic, but, when learners encounter multiplication of negative numbers, they lack a key metaphor MULTIPLICATION BY 1 IS ROTATION BY 180 needed to make sense of the new situation. Multiplication can also be taught as: Repeated addition, e.g. 2 x 3 = 3 + 3 or 2 + 2 + 2 Equal grouping, e.g. 2 x 3 can mean 2 groups of 3 Sequential folding, e.g. 2 x 3 can refer to action of folding a page in two and then fold the result into 3 Area-producing, e.g. a 2 unit by 3 unit rectangle has an area of 6 square units Ratio and rates

Conclusion
The authors suggest that teachers can introduce new connections from different domains to assist learners in constructing a more robust network of concepts. Then if a students understanding of a single domain fails, he or she can rely instead on metaphors projecting inferential structure from other conceptual areas.