Students take complex math functions and map them using 360-degree photos

Wilder, Justin

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Roger Williams UniversityDOCS@RWUFeatured News Story The Week at Roger8-24-2017Understanding Artistic MathematicsJustin WilderRoger Williams UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_newsPart of the Higher Education CommonsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The Week at Roger at DOCS@RWU. It has been accepted for inclusion in FeaturedNews Story by an authorized administrator of DOCS@RWU. For more information, please contact mwu@rwu.edu.Recommended CitationWilder, Justin, "Understanding Artistic Mathematics" (2017). Featured News Story. 271.https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_news/27111/7/2018  Understanding Artistic Mathematics | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/news/news-archive/understanding-artistic-mathematics 1/3 News Archive Understanding Artistic MathematicsStudents take complex math functions and map them using 360-degree photosJacobson and his Complex Analysis class' original photo that will bemanipulated using math functions.August 24, 2017 Justin WilderBRISTOL, RI - In Professor Robert Jacobson’s Complex Analysis course, students have found a new applicationof math beyond what you’ll remember from grade school. Using a 360-degree camera and a set ofmathematical functions, Jacobson’s class has blurred the line between math and art, creating a photographyproject connecting the two and attracting curiosity of the numbers behind the visuals.By exploring different math functions (sine, cosine, tangent and more), students discover how certainelements affect their photos. “In the original photo, the code assigns pixels to points on that coordinate plane,”says Alexandra Halligan ’17 pointing to the original photo. “When you apply an equation to it, it uses thosepoints and reorients them somewhere else in the photo. So now that pixel is going somewhere else, changingthe photo. The pixels are being rearranged as points on a that coordinate plane, creating a new image as aresult of each math equation.”11/7/2018  Understanding Artistic Mathematics | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/news/news-archive/understanding-artistic-mathematics 2/3While a majority of the class were math majors, the photos and spherical models they created drew interestfrom students all across campus, sparking discussion. “This math class has been unlike any math class I’veever had. This class had us thinking about using math from a different perspective to understand how itaffects the world around us,” says Ashley Crane ’17.As the students continued to manipulate the photos, they noticed trends of how each equation affected animage. “Rather than it being an abstract concept of points going to infinity, we create models that demonstratethat function,” says Bella Grafstein ’19.“This is the first time in a math class that I’ve been pushed to create a visual model of something we’relearning,” says Hien Ngo ’18.11/7/2018  Understanding Artistic Mathematics | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/news/news-archive/understanding-artistic-mathematics 3/3"A typical undergraduate course explores the properties of functions on complex coordinate plane and mightonly mention the plane-sphere equivalence in passing,” says Jacobson. “However, spherical photos and a"chalkboard globe" make a great deal of the theory of these functions much easier to understand.”Hear more from Professor Jacobson in a video he created, below:ACADEMICS ALUMNI FEINSTEIN SCHOOL OF SOCIAL AND NATURAL SCIENCESSpherical Photo Globes

Understanding Artistic Mathematics

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Understanding Artistic Mathematics

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