July « 2010 « Maxwell's Demon

Computers beat the devil?

July 31, 2010

I am a little behind the times on this, but Dave Richeson recently posted a quote from Michael Atiyah:

Algebra is the offer made by the devil to the mathematician. The devil says: I will give you this powerful machine, it will answer any question you like. All you need to do is give me your soul: give up geometry and you will have this marvelous machine.

Sir Michael Atiyah, 2002

I like the quote, I have a geometry prejudice, and feel the need to understand everything through pictures. Yet I felt it left something out. Maybe there is a reverse of the classic duel between god and the devil:

Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night:
God said, “Let Newton be!” and all was light.

Alexander Pope: Epitaph intended for Sir Isaac Newton

It did not last; the devil howling
“Ho! Let Einstein be!” restored the status quo.

Sir John Collins Squire A Random Walk in Science compiled by R. L. Weber, edited by E. Mendoza

In this case it is God’s turn to subtly undermine the work of the devil, offering the gift of computers to mathematicians. Algebra becomes algorithm and the geometry be revealed once more. The question is still whether mathematicians (especially Atiyah himself!) will appreciate this new gift.

3 Comments | General, Mathematics | Tagged: academia, computers, Dave Richardson, Doron Zeilberger, geometry, Mathematics, visual maths | Permalink
Posted by gelada

Icosahedral Tiling Model

July 15, 2010

Following on from the “How do shapes fill space?” exhibit at the RSSE last year, the Science Museum accepted our offer of some of the zometool models. There were three classics, the 120-cell, 600-cell and 24-cell, but one more unique model. A patch of icosahedral tiling:

I then decided to build a second (larger) version, and being an idiot this week when I am packing to move house, seemed like a sensible move (look for evidence of packing below!). So I built this yesterday and it was picked up today. I do not know if/when it will be on display, but at least it is now in the collection. For the construction I made a 3d model on the computer and then copied it in zome. The outer shape is essentially a dodecahedron, however the tiles inside do not have this symmetry, so the model as a whole has no symmetries.

As it was sunny I was able to get some nice photos, like the first one I showed, but this is of most interest because of the great shadow that it made, so here is a close up: