Tag 'functiongrinder'

I also spent the day making magic balloon octahedra for people. Here are some pictures from the event:

A girl sets the dials on the organ function grinder, while her friend inserts a number ticket.	Making a balloon octahedron wand (orange), watched by a girl who just received one (light blue). In the background, people ride square-wheeled tricycles.

Learn more about the other exhibits at the Math Midway on their website.

The 12,000 pieces are for an "organ fuction grinder." You choose a number to input, and set some dials to various mathematical transformations. Not only does the number get put through the transformations, but a musical theme also! For example, if you add three to your number, the melody gets transposed up three steps. It's very cool to play with the Mathematica version, programmed by George Hart, and I plan to get an online version up in the future.

The rest of the Math Midway exhibit promises to be really fun too. There will be a tricycle with square wheels which, as you can try for yourself, gives a perfectly smooth ride! There will also be giant puzzles and other cool stuff.