Maths and art
Intersections between mathematics and artistic expressions: music, painting, architecture, design
When economics illustrates matrix algebra
Economists' data can often be arranged in rectangular tables that can be manipulated according to precise rules tied to the mathematical concept of linearity. Matrix algebra can thus be illustrated with concrete examples drawn from economics.
Imre Lakatos and mathematics education | Tangente
The Hungarian mathematician Imre Lakatos set out his perspective in his best-known work, Proofs and Refutations. He illustrated his argument using Euler's formula.
History of shapes: Geometry and art intertwined | Tangente
Mathematics inspires artists, as a wonderful exhibition at Les Tanneries, on the banks of the Loing in Amilly, Loiret, demonstrates.
The ternary Cantor set
Cantor constructed a fractal set before fractals had a name, showing that a subset of the real line can have the cardinality of the continuum, have measure zero, and have empty interior.
Pythagoras: much more than a theorem
Pythagoras is more than the name of a famous theorem: he inspired an entire philosophical tradition that would influence not only mathematics and astronomy but music itself. Beyond the sciences, history has not heard the last of the "long-haired Samian"!
Harmonic pencils of lines
How can we express simply that several lines are concurrent? Despite appearances, pure geometry is not the best tool for the job! Introducing a coordinate system and a few equations may prove more useful.
Antoine Pevsner: homage to the straight line
In 1956, the sculptor Antoine Pevsner declared: "The most important feature of my work today […], the principle on which all my sculpture is now built, is the exclusive use of straight lines."
Sylvie Donmoyer, an artist fascinated by mathematics
An artist, not a mathematician, Sylvie Donmoyer is fascinated by geometric forms. In one engraving after another, inspired by Dürer and above all by Escher, she weaves connections between the two worlds of art and mathematics.
Pierre Boulez, mathematics and glory | Tangente
"Music is a hidden practice of arithmetic, the mind unaware that it is counting," said Leibniz. Pierre Boulez, who died on 5 January, conductor, composer and teacher of music and musical composition all at once, revealed to the whole world the hidden face of "his" music, in which mathematics runs through like a watermark.
The subverted geometry of Julien Prévieux | Tangente
The exhibition by Julien Prévieux, winner of the 2014 Marcel Duchamp Prize, "Des corps schématiques", running until 1 February 2016 at the Centre Pompidou (Paris), is not, strictly speaking, mathematical art, but since its theme is the recording of movement, some of the artist's geometric obsessions inevitably appear.
Music, serenity, and fractal art: a meeting | Tangente
The artist Alan Stivell, a musician, lyricist, composer and performer well known to defenders of Breton culture, chose a fractal image to illustrate his twenty-fourth album, AMzer (World Village, 2015).
Mathematics all around: awards for creators
Many writers, artists and game designers, whether professional or amateur, incorporate a mathematical dimension into their work. Every year, the Tangente Awards honor some of them.
Mathematical Art: Geometry and Creation | Tangente
Art and geometry always go well together; the material doesn't matter — wood, brick or even chocolate — as long as the shape is beautiful.
Sports lottery and a fractal
Gambling, long condemned on religious or moral grounds, has flourished over the past century, along with sports betting, which has grown with the rise of online gaming. Statistical studies can help optimize the winnings of the homo ludens that modern humanity has become.