Crocheting Mathematics
4/22/202613 min
Beyza Aslan, Associate Professor of Math at the University of North Florida, crochets mathematics. This turns abstractions, such as hyperbolic geometry, into something that can be touched, felt, manipulated, and experimented with. Her work as been exhibited at the Joint Mathematics Meetings.
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First 90 secondsCarol Jacobi· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Welcome to The Art of Mathematics. I'm Carol Jacobi, and joining us today is Beyza Aslan, who is going to talk to us, believe it or not, about mathematics and crocheting. Welcome to the show, Beyza.
Beyza Aslan· Guest0:21
Hi, Carol. Thanks for having me.
Carol Jacobi· Host0:23
This is really interesting because these seem to be two completely different areas. How do you link them together, and how did you happen to be doing s- two different things?
Beyza Aslan· Guest0:33
So they do come from different backgrounds. You have this heritage arts, crocheting, and mathematics is very abstract science, but they actually help each other out. I was lucky enough to be coming from a background where I was taught crocheting and knitting in a childhood, in a culture that I grew up, and there was a lot of geometry around me growing up in Turkey, uh, influenced by the Islamic culture. So I think later in life when I became a mathematician, I was able to link the two together with the help of other mathematicians who were artistic and for doing this. So it was not just me doing it, but I did see some examples and that gave me ideas, and, you know, uh, we meet together at conferences and exchange ideas. So yeah, it is a nice marriage of arts and mathematics that helps everybody.
Carol Jacobi· Host1:25
So it sounds like you had geometry as part of your crocheting