[sorry to have to have to publish this w/o editing – we are in the middle of moving and unpacking called . . . ]
Saw this really cool tweet from Steven Strogatz earlier today:
The video about the Gömböc in the tweet is amazing:
I’d been wanting to do a new 3D printing project for a while, though creating this shape from scratch probably wasn’t in the cards for today. Luckily someone had a version up on Thingiverse:
An almost Gömböc on Thingiverse
After a small version didn’t print so well, I hoped for a better result with a larger one:
5 hours – and a bit of sanding – later I was able to share the shape with my older son. I think learning about shapes like this one (by holding them as well as the video above) can have help kids see some of the beauty of math.
Here’s my son’s reaction to the shape, as well as his reaction to a second shape that we happened to have already printed that was tweeted about by one of Strogatz’s followers in response to the Gömböc tweet. Definitely a fun project and a nice way to have kids hold some math in their hands!
Mike's Math Page 