mart-website
MATH299W: Mathematics and Art
origami turtles and butterflies made by students
Welcome! This is the MATH299W: Mathematics and Art (MART) course website. This site is mostly here for informational purposes. Current students of MATH299W should check the Canvas page for class communications.
About the Class
MATH299W will be held this Spring 2023 in ESJ2309, every Thursday between 1:00pm - 1:50pm.
syllabus
Check out the syllabus here! The highlights are:
- topics we cover: geometry, projective geometry, tilings and tesselations, origami, paperfolding, fractals, and knots
- how we grade:
- 25%, presentation: a small 3-5 minute presentation to explore the math or art of a topic of your choice. flexible structure
- 25%, a project: students create a final piece that incorporates some mathematical elements. see here for examples of work students have created in the past :)
- 30%, participation: show up to lecture! learn about some cool math and art, and make some art during the inclass activity.
- 20%, homework: small homeworks, typically drawn from lecture.
- usually there is also some extra credit
FYIs!
- there is no background (in math or art) required needed to take this class. think of it like a gen ed but fancier and focused.
- Yes, MATH299W has “math” in the title–but you definitley do not need a math background to take this course and enjoy it a lot!. Precalculus is preferred, but if you can add and subtract, you’re golden :).
- we try to introduce the mathematical concepts in a way accessible to anyone (yes! even if you have no math background!), and provide a foundation for more rigorus study.
- YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW MATH!!! NOR DO YOU NEED TO KNOW ART!!!. if you wanna learn about or make some sick art peices or learn about or do some sick math, please take MATH299W!!!!! no reqs need apply!!!
- of course, a deeper understanding of math might give you the foundation to do more stuff. of course, a foundation in art of deeper understanding of design will let you make some really cool stuff & allow you to utilize some awesome art tools. if you have that skill too, also take the course if you want to exercise the skills you already have :)
- if you want it in numbers: math299w probably averages a 2hr/wk commitment at minimum.
Why Should You Take Mathematics and Art?
- As an art/design/creative major: math299w can be a really worthwhile toolbox for art or design. elements such as pattern and repetition in visual, audio, and even performance can be taken to another level when you take a mathematical view of it. think escher style tilings–that’s math! also fractals and knots look super cool.
- As a math/stem major: math299w can touch on some really interesting math! origami <-> graph theory my beloved? also knot theory <-> topology, repetitions <-> groups.
- Other major: if the class sounds cool to you definitley come take it! there are a lot of interesting and fun things to learn :D
- but regardless of your background, what you’ll get out of math299w is: observing some really cool and interesting interplay between two fields that you might not see interplay every day. also youll get to make awesome paper turtles and patterns and fractals, oh my!
Past Work
Here are works some students have made (for their final projects) in the past:
Modular Origami Ocosahedron (6½ x 6½ x 6½ in) made of brightly-colored paper Sonobe units, CC, Fall 2022
Origami Tessellations, Danjing Chen, Paper, Fall 2022
Oliver Adkins, Video 1280x720px 24fps, Fall 2022 (click the image to see the video ^ ! )
Ambient Occlusion in 3D Renderings, Ryan Punith, 1920x1080px, Fall 2022
Untitled, Kobe Wang, 8.5x11in Coloring Pencil, Fall 2022
Coding Audio Visualizers in Python, Philip Wu, Fall 2022
Contact
If you have any questions, or would like to know more, email karthiks@terpmail.umd.edu or rwuu@terpmail.umd.edu.
sidenote: you will see that this class is sometimes referred to as “Art and Mathematics”. this is because it makes the class seem less scary. we typically opt for “Mathematics and Art”, however, because if you take the M from Mathematics and combined it with “Art” -> you get “MArt”, which is a really funny word.