Making Mathematics with Needlework: Ten Papers and Ten Projects is an edited volume on mathematics and fiber arts. It was edited by Sarah-Marie Belcastro and Carolyn Yackel, and published in 2008 by A K Peters, based on a meeting held in 2005 in Atlanta by the American Mathematical Society. [1] [2]
The book includes ten different mathematical fiber arts projects, by eight contributors. [3] An introduction provides a history of the connections between mathematics, mathematics education, and the fiber arts. [2] Each of its ten project chapters is illustrated by many color photographs and diagrams, [4] and is organized into four sections: an overview of the project, a section on the mathematics connected to it, a section of ideas for using the project as a teaching activity, and directions for constructing the project. [3] Although there are some connections between topics, they can be read independently of each other, in any order. [4] The thesis of the book is that directed exercises in fiber arts construction can help teach both mathematical visualization and concepts from three-dimensional geometry. [1]
The book uses knitting, crochet, sewing, and cross-stitch, but deliberately avoids weaving as a topic already well-covered in mathematical fiber arts publications. [5] Projects in the book include a quilt in the form of a Möbius strip, a "bidirectional hat" connected to the theory of Diophantine equations, a shawl with a fractal design, a knitted torus connecting to discrete approximations of curvature, a sampler demonstrating different forms of symmetry in wallpaper group, "algebraic socks" with connections to modular arithmetic and the Klein four-group, a one-sided purse sewn together following a description by Lewis Carroll, a demonstration of braid groups on a cable-knit pillow, an embroidered graph drawing of an Eulerian graph, and topological pants. [1] [2] [6]
Beyond belcastro and Yackel, the contributors to the book include Susan Goldstine, Joshua Holden, Lana Holden, Mary D. Shepherd, Amy F. Szczepański, and D. Jacob Wildstrom. [7]
Reviewers had mixed opinions on the appropriate audience for the book and its success in targeting that audience. Ketty Peeva writes that the book is "of interest to mathematicians, mathematics educators and crafters", [8] and Mary Fortune writes that a wide group of people would enjoy browsing its contents, [4] However, Kate Atherley warns that it is "not for the faint-of-heart" (either among mathematicians or crafters), [9] and Mary Goetting complains that the audience for the book is not clearly defined, and is inconsistent across the book, with some chapters written for professional mathematicians and others for mathematical beginners. She writes that most readers will have to pick and choose among the chapters for material appealing to them. [3] Similarly, reviewer Michelle Sipics writes that in aiming at multiple audiences, the book "sacrifices some accessibility". [5] And although reviewer Gwen Fisher downplays the potential pedagogical applications of this book, complaining that its teaching ideas do not provide enough detail to be usable, and are not a good fit for typical teaching curricula, [7] Sipics calls mathematics teachers "perhaps the greatest beneficiaries of this text". [5]
Fortune writes that, though the book increased her appreciation of and understanding of needlework, she didn't gain much new mathematical insight from reading it. [4] In contrast, Fisher argues that by using only "straightforward applications of traditional needlework skills" the book is accessible even to beginners in the fiber arts, and that the book is "much more about maths than about fibre technique". The real value of the book, she argues, is in the scholarly connection it forges between traditional women's activities and mathematics. [7] Pao-Sheng Hsu says that it would be "a great coffee table book" for browsing. And Anna Lena Phillips calls the book "an excellent synthesis" of textile crafts and mathematics, providing inspiration to those interested in either topic. [6]
Needlework is decorative sewing and textile arts handicrafts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework. Needlework may include related textile crafts such as crochet, worked with a hook, or tatting, worked with a shuttle.
Fiber art refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labor on the part of the artist as part of the works' significance, and prioritizes aesthetic value over utility.
Daina Taimiņa is a Latvian mathematician, retired adjunct associate professor of mathematics at Cornell University, known for developing a way of modeling hyperbolic geometry with crocheted objects.
Ideas from mathematics have been used as inspiration for fiber arts including quilt making, knitting, cross-stitch, crochet, embroidery and weaving. A wide range of mathematical concepts have been used as inspiration including topology, graph theory, number theory and algebra. Some techniques such as counted-thread embroidery are naturally geometrical; other kinds of textile provide a ready means for the colorful physical expression of mathematical concepts.
Irena Swanson is an American mathematician specializing in commutative algebra. She is head of the Purdue University Department of Mathematics since 2020. She was a professor of mathematics at Reed College from 2005 to 2020.
Closing the Gap: The Quest to Understand Prime Numbers is a book on prime numbers and prime gaps by Vicky Neale, published in 2017 by the Oxford University Press (ISBN 9780198788287). The Basic Library List Committee of the Mathematical Association of America has suggested that it be included in undergraduate mathematics libraries.
Taking Sudoku Seriously: The math behind the world's most popular pencil puzzle is a book on the mathematics of Sudoku. It was written by Jason Rosenhouse and Laura Taalman, and published in 2011 by the Oxford University Press. The Basic Library List Committee of the Mathematical Association of America has suggested its inclusion in undergraduate mathematics libraries. It was the 2012 winner of the PROSE Awards in the popular science and popular mathematics category.
Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes is a book on crochet and hyperbolic geometry by Daina Taimiņa. It was published in 2009 by A K Peters, with a 2018 second edition by CRC Press.
Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics is a book on women in mathematics, by Talithia Williams. It was published in 2018 by Race Point Publishing.
Women in Mathematics is a book on women in mathematics. It was written by Lynn M. Osen, and published by the MIT Press in 1974.
Pioneering Women in American Mathematics: The Pre-1940 PhD's is a book on women in mathematics. It was written by Judy Green and Jeanne LaDuke, based on a long study beginning in 1978, and was published in 2009 by the American Mathematical Society and London Mathematical Society as volume 34 in their joint History of Mathematics series. Unlike many previous works on the topic, it aims at encyclopedic coverage of women in mathematics in the pre-World War II United States, rather than focusing only on the biographies of individual women or on collecting stories of only the most famous women in mathematics. The Basic Library List Committee of the Mathematical Association of America has strongly recommended its inclusion in undergraduate mathematics libraries.
A History of Folding in Mathematics: Mathematizing the Margins is a book in the history of mathematics on the mathematics of paper folding. It was written by Michael Friedman and published in 2018 by Birkhäuser as volume 59 of their Historical Studies series.
Susan Goldstine is an American mathematician active in mathematics and fiber arts. She is a professor of mathematics at St. Mary's College of Maryland, and the Steven Muller Distinguished Professor in the Sciences at St. Mary's College.
A Topological Picturebook is a book on mathematical visualization in low-dimensional topology by George K. Francis. It was originally published by Springer in 1987, and reprinted in paperback in 2007. The Basic Library List Committee of the Mathematical Association of America has recommended its inclusion in undergraduate mathematics libraries.
Carolyn Yackel is an American mathematician who has been Professor of Mathematics at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia since 2001. From 1998 to 2001 she was Max Zorn Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Indiana University.
The Symmetries of Things is a book on mathematical symmetry and the symmetries of geometric objects, aimed at audiences of multiple levels. It was written over the course of many years by John Horton Conway, Heidi Burgiel, and Chaim Goodman-Strauss, and published in 2008 by A K Peters. Its critical reception was mixed, with some reviewers praising it for its accessible and thorough approach to its material and for its many inspiring illustrations, and others complaining about its inconsistent level of difficulty, overuse of neologisms, failure to adequately cite prior work, and technical errors.
Sarah-Marie Belcastro is an American mathematician and book author. She is an instructor at the Art of Problem Solving Online School and is the director of Bryn Mawr's residential summer program MathILy. Although her doctoral research was in algebraic geometry, she has also worked extensively in topological graph theory. She is known for and has written extensively about mathematical knitting, and has co-edited three books on fiber mathematics. She herself exclusively uses the form "sarah-marie belcastro".
Geometric Origami is a book on the mathematics of paper folding, focusing on the ability to simulate and extend classical straightedge and compass constructions using origami. It was written by Austrian mathematician Robert Geretschläger and published by Arbelos Publishing in 2008. The Basic Library List Committee of the Mathematical Association of America has suggested its inclusion in undergraduate mathematics libraries.
Math on Trial: How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom is a book on mathematical and statistical reasoning in legal argumentation, for a popular audience. It was written by American mathematician Leila Schneps and her daughter, French mathematics educator Coralie Colmez, and published in 2013 by Basic Books.
Erna Beth Seecamp Yackel was an American college professor and math educator. She was a member of the faculty at Purdue University Northwest from 1984 to 2004.
