Josep Rey Nadal
I am a mathematician, a former teacher, an artist and a mathematical
and creative museographer in the Mathematics Museum of Catalonia.
Part of my art consists in the creation of interactive modules for the
Mathematics Museum. The module must be aesthetically and emotionally
suggestive. It needs to make the visitor eager to act manipulating and
thinking mathematically.
The module has to communicate. The goal is to appeal to our innate
senses and our internalized knowledge. We build bridges between math,
art and education.
It is a vertical puzzle, so you need to use your sense of balance
and start it from the bottom end.
The goal is to weave the dodecagon with 60 pieces. 24 rhombuses
with a 30º acute angle, 24 rhombuses with a 60º acute angle and 12
squares.
The challenge of being vertical makes you want to solve it, and
the beautiful resulting aesthetic makes you satisfied after the
experience.
Once build, you can observe the symmetry of your created rose
window. We attached four photos to show quite different cases of
symmetry.
As there are a lot of possible solutions because it is relatively
easy to create one, we also invite you to think a way to count
them all.