Explorable Flexagons
January 30, 2025 9:13 AM Subscribe
Explorable Flexagons – Learn to create and flex flexagons (in seven interactive chapters, plus appendices).
Glad to see her hexaflexamexagon remains. It's still one of the most internet-est things I've seen.
posted by AbnerRavenwood at 12:42 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]
posted by AbnerRavenwood at 12:42 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]
i came here to mention the first vi hart video from the playlist that Idhbadiddle posted. she recreates the story of a random math student stumbling upon flexagons and it’s glorious.
posted by bruceo at 12:42 PM on January 30
posted by bruceo at 12:42 PM on January 30
(Vi Hart is right at the beginning of the thing I linked to)
posted by Wolfdog at 1:25 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]
posted by Wolfdog at 1:25 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]
Way back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, (i.e., 1970 or thereabouts), three now-stout fellows acquired a 3-foot wide roll of kraft paper and produced a maxi-hexa-hexaflexagon. I don't recall what we did with it once we got it out of the basement. It's delightful to see the more evolved uses of said technology. Especially the mexi.flexagon. It's a blast living in the future.
All hail Martin Gardner!
posted by Citizen Cane Juice at 1:57 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]
All hail Martin Gardner!
posted by Citizen Cane Juice at 1:57 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]
Scott Sherman (a former co-worker), the creator of that webpage, is a coauthor of the book "The Secret World of Flexagons: Fascinating Folded Paper Puzzles" coming out in March.
In junior high metal shop, I cut a bunch of sheet metal triangles with the intention of making a hexaflexagon, but it didn't happen as friends found them first and ended up using them as ninja throwing stars.
posted by ShooBoo at 4:26 PM on January 30
In junior high metal shop, I cut a bunch of sheet metal triangles with the intention of making a hexaflexagon, but it didn't happen as friends found them first and ended up using them as ninja throwing stars.
posted by ShooBoo at 4:26 PM on January 30
There is a Piers Anthony novel that uses flexagons to map out multiple worlds, but I don’t hold that against math.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:24 PM on January 30
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:24 PM on January 30
That Piers Anthony novel is OX, and not only does is use flexagons to map out multiple worlds, it also introduced me to Conway's Game of Life, which led me to Martin Gardner's and his "Mathematical Games" columns in Scientific American.
posted by ShooBoo at 7:11 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]
posted by ShooBoo at 7:11 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]
Thanks again for posting this Wolfdog, it’s a really good resource. I do hexaflexagons as one of my “arts and crafts” lessons in math class (generally the day before winter break, no one is going to learn anything that day anyway) and now I’ll have some other examples to show them!
Somewhat related, if you’re interested in math + papercraft: Paper Polyhedra.
posted by Ishbadiddle at 4:15 AM on January 31
Somewhat related, if you’re interested in math + papercraft: Paper Polyhedra.
posted by Ishbadiddle at 4:15 AM on January 31
I also have a class where I do a mini unit on flexagons as a last day-or-two activity (those classes used to be 75 minutes long, and under our new schedule they'll be 90 minutes, so that's a good bit of time). Somehow I'd never found this resource before even though it's apparently been around all the while.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:29 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]
posted by Wolfdog at 5:29 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]
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posted by Ishbadiddle at 9:40 AM on January 30 [9 favorites]