Justin Mangis

Artists

Justin Mangis

Math student

Fairfax, Virginia, USA

Statement

This artwork is titled Pythagorean Triples: Making Math’s Mandala. I am a high school student, and I am fascinated by geometry. My design is inspired by math as art. Mandalas originated around the globe and are hundreds of years old. Some say the universe in its ideal form is symbolized by the mandala. Additionally, Pythagorean triples generate right triangles with perfect integer sides such as (3, 4 ,5) and (7, 12, 13) and (9, 40, 41). Further, a primitive Pythagorean triple is a triple who’s only common divisor is 1. For example, (3, 4 ,5) is a primitive Pythagorean triple; however, (6, 8,10) is not.

Artworks

Image for entry 'Pythagorean Triples: Making Math’s Mandala' — Pythagorean Triples: Making Math’s Mandala
28 x 28 cm
ink on paper
2021

Humans have a knack for patterns; we love and seek patterns. And, we find great beauty and satisfaction when patterns are found. My goal was to create student accessible art. What is important to me is that math as art be beautiful and as accessible to as many as possible. The data was imported into Desmos (free web graphing software), then color edited in my computer’s paint 3D program. Pythagorean Triples: Making Math’s Mandala brings math and art together, by plotting the vertex of over 300 primitive Pythagorean triples. Then, the points were reflected over the x axis and y axis. This process produced over 2600 points to create math’s mandala.