Samantha Pezzimenti and Aditya Kommoju
Samantha Pezzimenti teaches mathematics at Penn State Brandywine. She is interested in the ways artistic representations and physical models can help students understand abstract mathematical concepts. Aditya Kommoju is an architectural engineering student at Penn State. He enjoys learning about the intersections between architecture, engineering, and mathematics.
This piece positions the 2-dimensional projections of a series of knots next to their 3-dimensional analogs in order to create a better understanding their visual complexity. On the left is a sketch of the first 15 knots, up to 7 crossings. On the right is the same series of knots portrayed in three-dimensional models. We used the program SolidWorks to design the three-dimensional versions and printed them using a 3D-printer.