math art

A collection of 63 posts

Math Birds

Probability in the Leaves

I run and see the crows daily. They splash, play, talk, and announce the sunset. I see them in yards flipping leaves together and can’t help but feel that they are calculating probabilities. Of what, I am not sure – maybe the probability of finding a nut, bug, or piece of pizza. No matter what, […]

coding

Locomotive Rose Art

The equations used to produce these plots are in the family of rose curves. This particular form is composed of two curves added together. It almost feels like there is some locomotion happening in the visualization, and it is fun to think about the gears and shafts might that make this pattern. r =

Comics

Hyperbolic Kittyoid

coding

Code for Two-Button Calculator

A two-button calculator can only perform two operations (like multiply by two and add five). The Global Math Project is a wonderful resource for math learning and play and has a great resource for two-button problems in this Global Math Project PDF. Another variation of this sort of problem is done

Math Birds

Gold-Phi-nch

This was inspired by my backyard Gold-phi-nches (goldfinches) that cluster on my sunflowers, brighten my days, and provide hours of entertainment. As someone who has been isolated pre-covid, I am so grateful for the joy that birds bring me. I imagine the flocks propagating sunflowers far and wide to

coding

Blue Flames

This code was generated by playing around with one of the p5.js examples. It translates and rotates using parametric equations each frame. Codepen is below (it may not run well on some machines). See the Pen blueFlame by Sophia (@fractalkitty) on CodePen.

coding

Transformed Magic Squares

I got a request from a twitter friend (Sara Resvi) to create a visual for transforming magic squares. A learner can see how one solution is many (or vice versa). Here is what I put together in an afternoon. Click the numbers to change them. Try to find solutions where the rows, columns and diagonals

coding

Parametric Waves Morphed into Unstable Charcoal

Have you ever wished that you had charcoal that is made of particles that randomly leave and come back? Wish the reference frame would rotate so down is up, but not always? Well now you have what you have always wanted – Unstable Charcoal! I created this after playing with a parametric wave visualiz

Comics

Coffee Darkness vs. Daylight

Because it’s true…

coding

Laced Reflections

My mind was on snowflakes tonight, which brought me down a rabbit hole of reflections, lace, and play. The code here is simple but fun. Enjoy making snowflakes, lace, stars, or whatever comes to mind. If you wish to fork the code or play it is here. My CodePen is below. Press the spacebar (or […]

Comics

Dark Mathemagics

I hope to have a full spell list for all Mathemagics eventually, but a quickly drafted comic will do for now – Enjoy.

Comics

Coffee Temperature

If you ever need a piecewise function, this is mine. I redid this from my 2x3in Mathober doodle (I added the overheated peak).

coding

Code of the Rings

While tinkering with my tree ring code, I created a simpler yet mesmerizing adaptation. Essentially I added a loop, some random multipliers, and changed to radian mode. Sine and cosine are so incredibly beautiful and full of infinite play and wonder. Please play with the code below by clicking to ch

coding

Goodbye Red Oak

I often run for mental downtime and stress-relief. On a recent run, I found one of my favorite trees blown over. This tree grew in a cemetery with broad branches and roots consuming the neighboring headstones. This red oak had brought me so much joy. Before I could get to the stump, the park had […]

coding

Foggy Orbits

After covering the unit circle today, I created Foggy Orbits as a quick sketch. Below is the CodePen and above is a GIF. I hope to add this to pre-calc activities with parametric equations eventually. See the Pen jOrJezv by Sophia (@fractalkitty) on CodePen.

coding

Swirled Series Challenge

I decided to join Craig S. Kaplan’s Swirled Series Challenge. I played the last two nights and have some draft GIFs below. I don’t have a ton of time, but it’s stuff like this that relaxes me at night. I look forward to seeing what people come up with. I still need to export a […]

coding

Draft of Knotty Math Tile Code

Here is a rough draft of Knotty Math tile code. Code was adapted from Shaw Wan’s tangram code on CodePen. I am hoping to adapt more tile designs for play. This will not work on touch screens/phones – I’ll have to contemplate an app for that. I am just learning… Drag the tiles below and […]

coding

Mod Fibonacci

Finite Melodies for an Infinite Sequence A few years ago I asked myself how I could play the Fibonacci sequence on the piano. I found that if I divided the Fibonacci sequence by the number of keys I wished to play, I got a set of numbers that would infinitely repeat. I tested this observation […]

GIF

The Point? Dimensions

“The Point of Evolution” started as a Mathober doodle and led to this GIF. Dimensions are fun – what do you see? what do you notice? Side Note: I talk about dimensions when covering combining like terms. One analogy – A 3D banana can’t combine with a 2D banana (or whatever noun seems to go […]

coding

Laser Pointer Googly Eyes

I am glad I can amuse myself. This is a simple script that I may integrate into an Algebra class for looking at points on a line. If you want a webpage version for students, click here. If you want code, see below. Click to make more eyes, and you might get freaked out if […]

coding

Fractal Ink to Code

After drawing the fractal prompt today for Mathober, I played around to make it in p5js. Below is the Codepen to play with. I almost feel like it should have a surprise when they align…maybe for another day. See the Pen fractal_Mathober by Sophia (@fractalkitty) on CodePen.

coding

Lune of Hippocrates Clock

After drawing the Lune of Hippocrates yesterday for Mathober, I played around to make a Lune clock today. Below is codepen (p5 is here). I use a lot of these small projects for students to play with in an hour of code group. This one may not be as popular as projecting memes and cats […]

coding

Fantasy Maps to Planets

For those that have created fantasy maps using previous posts here, in classes, or elsewhere in Worldbuilding, D&D, or art, I created a small script to see your maps as spherical planets. You can click to rotate and move the mouse off the canvas to have rotation. You may want to draw a map that […]

GIF

From the Void

Hexagon and parametric spiral play. I find myself doodling with code lately more than with my pen. I have one more scripting algebra post, but feel like I have a much larger library for a pre-calc set of activities. Thoughts? The GIF is too large for this site or twitter, so I stashed it on […]

GIF

Expanded

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