As some of you know, I've been renovating a viking camp and turning it into a math creativity center. Last week we were building a new railing for the deck. One of my guys asked what kind of math we want to put into it... and he wanted to start the next day. Came up with a fast idea - place horizontal support nearer the top and bottom to leave the middle open and cut a sine curve through the railings.
I drew the curve using geogebra and projected it on a piece of wood to use as a template. With some careful adjusting we got it just the size we wanted (184 cm wide by 36 cm high). My guy Thomas then cut out the curve from the sheet and traced it onto the railing and made quick work of the pattern.
I'm very happy with the result. It was quick and easy and makes nice shadows. Plus, the company name is Matematikkbølgen which means "The math wave", so a sine curve is fitting. Next step is to trim down the bushes so it's more visible from the parking lot.
That is awesome. Since you're working with wood and doing lots of math, you may be interested to know that the science of noise reduction relies heavily on quadratic residues; there's a company called RPG that basically makes "math panels" of various orders and purposes. Dunno if you have anywhere that might be used for lectures; having a bunch of awesome-looking wood and an explanation of why the wood looks like that would be a pretty rad addition to a "math center". (all of RPG's panels are vacuuformed plastic; I've long wanted to give 'em a try in stained wood but I'm no bueno at maths)
Thanks! I never knew there was so much math in sound diffusers. Just spent a few bewildering minutes reading about quadratic residues on wikipedia, and then quadratic residue diffusers. Just mind-blowing what folks can use math for. I especially like this: A lot of research – science as well as math – works to understand some rather abstract concepts that have no apparent value. And then, 300 years later, it solves a problem. Maybe the solution is just how to best diffuse noise, or maybe the solution saves millions of lives. Coincidentally, another project going on right now is sound damping in what we call the DaVinci room, a very cool room with a vaulted ceiling. The noise is bad - I taught two days of courses to high school kids in there and it was too much. I'd been pushing for us to just carpet the ceiling but my partners didn't agree. We're putting up sound-absorbing panels right now. I thought it would look bad, but now I think it will look great! Here's the start:Originally an abstract mathematical concept from the branch of number theory known as modular arithmetic, quadratic residues are now used in applications ranging from acoustical engineering to cryptography and the factoring of large numbers.
I kinda agree with you - it's a shame to goop up a beautiful ceiling like that. One of the interesting things about acoustics is that it's not a science we've learned a whole lot more about recently. We can put theory to the practice but the practice is largely settled. Whoever built that space knew what they were doing; they also knew that there were better places to put diffusion and absorption than the ceiling. The acoustic lens you already have there is designed to break up flutter echo. It's already diffusing. It's no doubt designed to work with a carpet on the floor and, possibly, a bunch of books lining the walls. Do you have any illustrations or pictures of what the space looked like when originally built? I'ma guess that it was intended as a standing-room lecture hall, and "standing people" combined with that ceiling would have made for a pretty effective lecture space. I'm going to guess that the problems you're having are related to it being too empty, and too free of "dead cats" (the unofficial term for any acoustical component that are related to the presence of an audience).
The room was originally a classroom and then a glassblowing studio filled with ovens and tools. I don't know if vaulted part was put in after it was a classroom or not. Carpet and soft things and the like would help but we put in wood floor with the intention of it being a math workshop space where things could get messy. One wall is entirely windows and a double glass door which doesn't help either, and we replaced textured wall paper with drywall which made it worse. Curtains and a quilt on the wall and a couple of sofas didn't help enough either. We played with hanging acoustic tile around the top of the walls but none of us liked the look. So we bit the bullet and began hanging the tiles on the ceiling. After just tiling that little area in the picture there is a marked difference in sound quality, and the tiles look surprisingly good. The angle on the picture doesn't show it well, but I think it will look great when done and all sound problems will be solved. Artwork will hang up there when we're done.
Shopvac, yo. The itty-bitty ones are like $20. I have long wanted some walls to waste on RPG skyline. Were I to do one I'd buy one (for $180!) then copy it out of 1x1 maple or the equivalent. Make me enough to be serious. That panel in the picture above is aboug $1k worth of Skyline and it's f'n plastic. But I've never lived in that house.
This may be one of the finest sentences ever uttered on the internet, my friend. Wow... Followed closely by this one: I support your project with all my heart and soul!! I've been renovating a viking camp and turning it into a math creativity center
which will become a light covered patio, possibly enclosed and filled with mathematical plants
We're starting on removing a big heavy ugly grill patio which will become a light covered patio, possibly enclosed and filled with mathematical plants. Insert your own "square roots" joke here. And before summer we'll have a 10 meter diameter geodesic frame in the garden for concerts and dancing!
OOOOOH BE REALLY REALLY CAREFUL There are few structures with acoustics as shitty as geodesic domes. If you leave it open, you'll be fine. If you put any panels in you're hosed. The acoustic response of circular and ellipsoidal structures are beyond counterintuitive. You can understand, for example, that standing at one locus of an ellipse and speaking will make for spooky gain at the other locus. However, a conversation within an ellipse is a maddening experience. Likewise, geodomes - had a friend who lived in one and you'd walk around the room and the stereo would go from "mute" to "too loud" and there were places you could stand and hear the bathroom entirely too well.
The dome will be an open skeletal structure. Probably with anchor points to hoist up a cover of sorts in the rain. Never thought of the acoustics inside a closed geodesic dome. I can easily see how it could be a nightmare! Frankly, I think geodesic dome houses are ugly. Here's a concept sketch. Dome might look like this. Or might not.
Not gonna lie. I LOVE that dome. A suggestion? Rather than have this big beautiful open thing that's going to require you to hang tarps in the weather, you could perhaps build it as the cupola of a gazebo... you'd have to sink footings, yeah, and you'd need some columns... but columns are just an excuse to decorate, as you've proven. And then you could shell 120 degrees or so of it (temporarily or permanently - dunno how much you care about wind loading where you're at) and have a legit performance space. A shell, a half dome and an acoustic guitar is a recital. No amplification needed. My mother used to hit 300-person weddings with a shell and a string quartet.
The dome will be an open skeletal structure. Probably with anchor points to hoist up a cover of sorts in the rain. Never thought of the acoustics inside a closed geodesic dome. I can easily see how it could be a nightmare! Frankly, I think geodesic dome houses are ugly. Here's a concept sketch. Dome might look like this. Or might not.
There is a guy named Gregg Fleishman who is building FASCINATING furniture and structures that use no nails - just slotted pieces of wood that fit together perfectly - and his structures are a fascinating look at some math I really don't understand. Some great ideas here: http://www.greggfleishman.com/structures.html Plus, his video on the "Lost Triangle of Pythagoras" plays nicely into your math camp:
I'm still fascinated by this idea of the math park!! You might be interested in my friend Tim Celeski's woodworking art. Recently he has been carving waveforms, which are strikingly beautiful in wood. http://timceleski.com/
Love it! Just checked to see if I could register that as a domain name. We're hunting around for a good international name. Matematikkbølgen works great in Norway, but we want to sell products and games and math furniture internationally and that name just doesn't work so hot. "Mentat" would be sweet, but there's a lot of products and services named that already...
Viking Math Mathkings Ancient Angles Nordic Numbers If I had a better understanding of the nordic languages, I'd suggest finding a word that means something meaningful about "education" in its native tongue, and sounds good in English. I was in a group called "Narings Liv", once. We chose that name because of the meaning in Swedish, but also because it could be easily spoken by native English speakers. So there are some ideas from the guy that does Marketing for a living!