Origami
Links
Origami as a Field of Mathematics
- For a visual overview of the field of mathematical origami see Erik
Demaine's photos from the 3rd International Meeting of Origami
Science, Math, and Education. Abstracts from
this meeting can be found on Tom Hull's web page.
- Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics gives an overview of some
results in mathematical origami.
- Tom
Hull's mathematical origami page is the most comprehensive source
for information on mathematical origami that I have seen. The notes
from his Combinatorial Geometry class survey many approaches to mathematical
origami. Fields of mathematics invoked in Tom's course are convex
polyhedral geometry (graph
theory), Huzita's
origami geometry axioms, and combinatorial modelling of paper
folding (flat
folding). Tom has also published a number of mathematical
origami papers. To get a feel for the scope of the field of
mathematical orgiami, you can browse through the abstracts from the
3rd
International Meeting of Origami Science, Math, and Education or
Tom's Origami Math Bibliography.
- Robert Lang's web page shows his many amazing origami designs and also discusses mathematical origami. You can also download his TreeMaker algorithm which can be used to design new origami bases.
- Helena Verrill considers several mathematical
origami questions on her web page: classifying origami tessellations, folding spherical paper, and origami trisection of an angle.
- Koshiro shows how to use basic rules of origami construction to
divide a
square paper into arbitrarily many equal strips. This discussion
includes proofs of several of Haga's theorems.
- Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine wrote a survey article,
available in PDF format, that describes the field of
computational origami. Erik's Folding and Unfolding Page gives an overview of
folding and unfolding problems with links to mathematical details and
papers. Erik's primary interest is in finding algorithms that
characterize foldability in different objects. The objects being
folded range from paper, to robot arms, to proteins. See also Joe
O'Rourke and Komei Fukada's page on unfolding convex polytopes.
- Ivars Peterson wrote an article about flat folding and
computational origami also discussing applications of the
field.
- David Wright discusses a connection between paper folding and the
fractal dragon curve.
- David Eppstein, the founder of the Geometry Junkyard,
has posted a mathematical bull session on the Margulis
Napkin Problem. This problem asks for a proof that it is
impossible to fold a unit square to form a flat shape whose perimeter
is greater than 4. In the course of the discussion, the participants
realize that the problem is wrong as stated -- there is a way to fold
a unit square to form a flat shape whose perimeter is greater than 4,
and this turns out to be the key to creating many origami animals.
Helena
Verrill gives a clearer presentation of how to construct an
origami counter-example.
- David Eppstein's site hosted another mathematical bull session on
the Teabag Problem. This problem asks for the maximum volume a teabag
can hold. A number of mathematicians contributed to the original
discussion.
- Roger Alperin defines and proves theorems about Origami numbers,
numbers that are constructible by origami folds.
- Rick Nordal has a great page about Einstein's Origami
Snowflake Game. This site includes many folding puzzles.