Jana Kopfová

Associate Professor of Mathematics
Mathematical Institute of the Silesian University Opava, Czech Republic
Opava, Czech Republic

As a child, I dreamed to study mathematics and art. I became a profesional mathematician and my love of art is my hobby.

I am trying to spread the beauty of mathematics through all what I do - through my lectures, through math circles to high school students, through animated movies about math, which I helped to create, and lately also through silk paintings. I love flowers and geometrical designs and playing with the technique a colors.

Tangent to a flower
Tangent to a flower
20 x 20 cm
Painting on silk
December 2019

This year I teach calculus. My work was motivated by my teaching. What things are possible to create with parabolas? And how can you create parabolas using straight lines? Can you show that the curves I used are really parabolas? This is not so simple an exercise, but one of my students was able to accomplish the proof. The idea of the work is simple, but shows the deep secrets of calculus. All is hand painted.