2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings

Edmund Harriss, Stephen J Trettel

Artists

Edmund Harriss

Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Art

University of Arkansas

eharriss@uark.edu

http://maxwelldemon.com

Stephen J Trettel

Assistant Professor of Mathematics

University of San Francisco

San Francisco California, USA

strettel@usfca.edu

https://www.stevejtrettel.site

Statement

Joint work with Steve Trettel, University of San Fransisco. We both believe in the power of illustration to reveal the beauty of mathematical ideas, especially around differential geometry. This is a challenging technical area of mathematics, but its insights are often directly relevant in the physical world. Individually we have worked on toys (like Curvahedra) and virtual reality views into the Thurston geometries in 3d. In our work together we aim to create explorations of the ideas that teach by exploration especially bridging between physical and virtual models

Artworks

Image for entry 'Geodesic Boards'

Geodesic Boards

30.0 x 45.0 x 5.0 cm

CNC carved Cherry

2024

These pieces are half of a set of six of a infinite collection of potential models. The potential models can be explored online at https://stevejtrettel.site/code/2024/woodcut-geodesics/ Once a model is chosen the information can be passed directly through CAM software that will allow a CNC machine to carve the specific block. In both settings the notion of geodesics (generalised straight lines) on arbitrary surfaces can be explored. In the software the surface and starting locations of the geodesics can be controlled to design a block. People who come first to the blocks can instead try to figure out what the lines mean, exploring physically (with touch and spatial intuition) before exploring more widely in the computer generated version.