Week #3 - flexagons

Post date: Mar 13, 2017 1:0:20 PM

This is one of my all time favourite things!

Here are a sequence of entertaining and instructive videos by Vi Hart. 

Please watch!!! :) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIVIegSt81k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paQ10POrZh8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmN0YyaTD60

She has lots of other good youtube videos too. Her father, George Hart, is a mathematician/sculptor. He has visited Aalto University and did some cool things as part of a math/art/architecture course. 

http://www.georgehart.com/Aalto/aalto.html

What we did:

• Made tri-flexagons. [image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexagon] 

Things to try at home: 

• Make more triflexagons. Instructions below. Color or write different non-symmetrical patterns on each triangle so you can see how they kind of rotate when you do the flex. 

• Make a hexaflexagon. Instructions below. This requires some patience as you need to make the folds quite accurate. You might need a parent or friend to help the first time you do it. Its somehow not as easy as it looks in the videos above :) 

Links:

• Instruction for the triflexagon and hexaflexagon.  http://www.murderousmaths.co.uk/games/flex/flexmake.htm

  • And a video from the same site for the triflexagon. http://www.murderousmaths.co.uk/flex/index.htm