Tarquin
The Artful Maths Activity Book
Clarissa Grandi
Artful maths: geometric patterns without needing to draw
The wonderful thing about mathematical art is that the most beautiful geometric patterns can be produced without needing to be able to draw, or be ‘good at art’. Students who doubt their artistic skill still finish with a striking piece.
Mathematical art is accessible to people of all ages: its algorithmic nature means that it simply requires the ability to follow instructions carefully and to use a pencil and ruler accurately. It is engaging, enriching and thoroughly enjoyable, enabling everyone to experience the joy of success through mathematical art-making. This is maths in art at its most direct: each line follows a rule.
Six hands-on artful maths activities for ages 9 to adult
The six Artful Maths activities in this book are hands-on tasks that will develop important skills such as hand-eye co-ordination, manual dexterity and design thinking, which is a valuable form of problem-solving. Decisions need to be made about placement, size and colour, all of which entail thinking about measurements, proportions and symmetry. For ages 9 to adult.
Contents
- Curves of Pursuit
- Mazes and Labyrinths
- Impossible Objects
- Epicycloids
- Perfect Proportions
- Parabolic Curves
In practice, each activity links geometry to a creative choice: drawing mazes, for example, means planning paths and shapes before committing a line. Finished work also gives you display ideas for maths classroom displays, made by your own students.
A stand-alone book for independent learners and clubs
The Artful Maths Activity Book is a stand-alone book for those who wish to work through the activities independently. It is an ideal addition to a mathematics library or club - and as a prize too. A club can work through the six projects over a term, one pattern per session.
It can also be used in the classroom as an optional learners’ workbook to accompany the Teacher Book: each of your students then has their own copy to work in.
The Artful Maths Teacher Book: a teaching resource for lessons
The Artful Maths Teacher Book includes teaching resources to help plan lessons to draw out the mathematics underlying the patterns and to practise key content in the school curriculum, including downloadable PowerPoint presentations and templates. Tarquin designed it so a teacher can move from making the art to naming the maths behind it.
US spelling versions of both books
A US spelling version of each is also available: buy here or from Amazon.com using the links below:
About the author
Clarissa Grandi is a maths teacher and geometric artist based in the UK. She is passionate about engaging learners in their mathematics through the exploration of pattern-making and mathematical art.
She is the founder of ArtfulMaths.com, an online platform sharing ideas and resources to support the teaching of mathematical art and origami in schools. She can also be found on Twitter as @c0mplexnumber, where she posts and retweets creative mathematical images and ideas, and on Instagram as @clarissagrandi.art.
A natural next step is to explore her origami and art ideas online, after your first parabolic curve takes shape with nothing more than a pencil and ruler.
