Redundancy, Robust Design, And Mathematics

Zome
Systems builds upon the magic of the golden ratio.

Its
design reflects redundancy at many levels, a feature that
is

usually common to well-designed systems, and a feature
inherent

to anything mathematical.

As an
example, Zome sticks are both color and shape coded; a

fact
that makes this an excellent tool for teaching math
to

visually impaired students —

see Thinking

Of
Mathematics.

Redundancy can often be a
consequence of the same basic fact

manifesting itself when
viewed from different perspectives. As a

case in point, see
the number of ways that the golden ratio

manifests itself,
both within Zome, and more generally the wider

world we
live in.

tv raman

Some Tidbits

Some Tidbits:

Phi (the golden ratio) plays a very important role in Mathematics,
Sciences, Arts and Zome tool. Please take a look at
http://redsevenone.wordpress.com/
(and click on the link on the right side ZOME - the Answers Before you ask for Zome tool),
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio (for Phi and Golden Ratio).

If Pi day is celebrated on March 14 (3/14), don't you think Phi day
should be celebrated on 6th of January (1/6)

If Phi is 1.6180339887, then 1/Phi is 0.6180339887 - Do you know why? Because Phi satisfies the algebraic equation Phi^2 = Phi + 1.
If you divide this equation by Phi, you see the answer. This trick was
revealed to me by none other than my co-blogger TV Raman

Math Fun With Zome

Math can be fun, and it can be made even more enjoyable when


elegant mathematical facts are made tangible via concrete models.


Zome Systems --- a polyhedral building kit based on the geometry


of the dodecahedron/icosahedron pair --- can provide many hours


of fun-filled math edutainment.


In this blog, we hope to help to share some of the insights we


have gained over the last few years in the form of easy to


consume byte-sized capsules.


For an in-depth review of many of these facts, see



Visual


Techniques For Computing Polyhedral Volumes
.

Author: T. V. Raman