Spring 2009
(Last modified: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 9:56 AM )
| This syllabus is subject to change! | |||||||||
| Monday | Wednesday | Friday | |||||||
| 1/19 | 1/21 | Welcome to Math in Art | 1/23 | Who uses a System of | |||||
| Review Ratio and Proportion | Proportion and Why? | ||||||||
| What is a System of Proportion? | Examples of Systems of Proportion | ||||||||
| 1/26 | Developing Standards for Judgment | 1/28 | Application of Standards to Some | 1/30 | More on applying Standards to Garden Houses | ||||
| Ancient Examples | Common Beliefs about the Golden Ratio | ||||||||
| The Mean and Extreme Ratio | |||||||||
| PS 0, PS 1 (both individual) due | |||||||||
| 2/2 | From Euclid to the Golden Ratio | 2/4 | In Class Work on Mean and Extreme Ratio | 2/6 | Pi and Phi in the Great Pyramid | ||||
| How might ancients have known Golden | Similar Figures | ||||||||
| Ratio is irrational? | |||||||||
| Is Phi in the Great Pyramid? | |||||||||
| PS 2 (group) due | Project 2 due | ||||||||
| 2/9 | More review of similar figures | 2/11 | Greek puzzles- gnomons | 2/13 | From gnomons to the Goldon Rectangle | ||||
| Intro to gnomons | Ancient Greek questions on gnomons | The Golden Rectangle in Art | |||||||
| Gnomonic Growth | |||||||||
| PS 3 (individual) due | Intro to Fibonacci numbers | ||||||||
| 2/16 | Q & A for Exam 1 | 2/18 | Exam 1 | 2/20 | Fibonacci numbers | ||||
| Fibonacci Numbers and Phi | |||||||||
| (covers thru PS 4, | Setting the stage for perspective | ||||||||
| should be done for Tuesday) | |||||||||
| 2/23 | Intro to 3 dimensional space | 2/25 | Optical ideas behind perspective | 2/27 | Using formulae for perspective images | ||||
| Plotting in 3d | Connecting perspective to 3d plotting | Making observations, drawing conclusions | |||||||
| Distance in 3d | Developing formulae for perspective images | ||||||||
| PS 5 (individual) due | Project 3 due | ||||||||
| 3/2 | Cancelled-snow day! | 3/4 | More observations and conclusions | 3/6 | Finding correct viewing position | ||||
| Vanishing points | |||||||||
| PS 6 (group) due | Projects 4, 5 due | ||||||||
| 3/9 | 3/11 | 3/13 | |||||||
| Spring Break | |||||||||
| 3/16 | Rules of perspepctive | 3/18 | Duplicating rectangles in perspective | 3/20 | More perspective techniques | ||||
| Subdividing rectangles in perspective | Developing more perspective techniques | ||||||||
| PS 7 (individual) due | |||||||||
| Project 6 due | |||||||||
| 3/23 | Q & A for Exam 2 | 3/25 | Exam 2 | 3/27 | Anamorphic Art | ||||
| (covers thru PS 8, | The spread of perspective | ||||||||
| should be done for Tuesday) | |||||||||
| 3/30 | Wrapping up some tricky perspective questions | 4/1 | From Flatland to 3D to 4D | 4/3 | Thinking about 4 dimensions | ||||
| Brief history: popularization of the 4th dimension | Looking for patterns in 0D, 1D, 2D, 3D | "Cubes" in 0, 1, 2, and 3 | |||||||
| dimensions? | |||||||||
| PS 9 (group) due | Projects 7 and 8 due | ||||||||
| 4/6 | More on "cubes" in 0,1,2,3, and 4 dimensions | 4/8 | More on visualizing the hypercube | 4/10 | Transition to non-Euclidean geometry | ||||
| Visualizing the hypercube | The 4th dimension in art | Intro to elliptic and hyperbolic space | |||||||
| PS 10 (individual) due | Project 9 due - Postponed | ||||||||
| 4/13 | Focusing deeper on elliptic space | 4/15 | Lines in hyperbolic space | 4/17 | The Sierpinski gasket & recursion | ||||
| Lines in elliptic space | The Poincare disk model of hyperbolic space | The chaos game | |||||||
| Non-Euclidean geoemtry in Art | Symmetry of scale | ||||||||
| Intro to Fractals; the Koch snowflake & recursion | |||||||||
| PS 11 (group) due | Projects 1 and 9 due. 10 and 11 postponed | ||||||||
| 4/20 | Q & A for Exam 3 | 4/22 | Exam 3 | 4/24 | Similarity dimension | ||||
| Sim dim of Koch snowflake & Sier. gasket | |||||||||
| (covers thru PS 12 | Intro to Complex numbers | ||||||||
| should be done for Tuesday) | Projects 10,11, and 12 due | ||||||||
| 4/27 | Setting up an art show to display those | 4/29 | The Mandelbrot Set | 5/1 | More on fractals & the Mandelbrot set | ||||
| projects which best demonstrate the | Evaluations | ||||||||
| mathematical ideas you've learned | PS 13 (individual) due | Project 13 due | |||||||
| The final will be Saturday, May 9, from 2pm-5pm. | |||||||||
Janice Sklensky
Wheaton College
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Science Center, Room 101A
Norton, Massachusetts 02766-0930
TEL (508) 286-3973
FAX (508) 285-8278
jsklensk@wheatonma.edu