The Beauty of Math

The connection between mathematics and art dates back thousands of years. From cathedrals to ancient tilings to oriental rugs, mathematics have been fundamental in geometric designs that are now revered and often emulated. In honor of Common Core testing that is taking place here in New York State this week, we thought it fitting to look at the work of Iranian mathematical artist Hamid Naderi Yeganeh. These often delicately intricate works are quite remarkable, and more astounding is that Yeganeh writes computer programs based on mathematical equations to produce them. Though Yeganeh’s mathematical descriptions are way over our heads (example below), the aesthetic and conceptual allure of these works is certainly not lost on us. The results are stunning, and just proof that math can be beautiful.

Via mathematics.culturalspot.org

This first image shows 9,000 ellipses. For each k=1,2,3,…,9000 the foci of the k-th ellipse are:
A(k)+iB(k)+C(k)e^(300πik/9000)
and
A(k)+iB(k)-C(k)e^(300πik/9000)
and the eccentricity of the k-th ellipse is D(k), where
A(k)=sin(12πk/9000)cos(8πk/9000),
B(k)=cos(12πk/9000)cos(8πk/9000),
C(k)=(1/14)+(1/16)sin(10πk/9000),
D(k)=(49/50)-(1/7)(sin(10πk/9000))^4.