[Edu-sig] re: Pepakura Designer

[Dethe Elza]

Arthur wrote:

> I have also long had the idea of creating something that allowed one to
> design a hexaflexagon -   a folding paper thingy - and have it printed 
> so it
> could be folded and used.
>
> But it reqires printing on long strips of paper, and requires some 2 
> sided
> printing.  Don't know quite how to get it done.

In Martin Gardner's book, "The Scientific American Book of Mathematical 
Puzzles and Diversions," he presents some designs for hexaflexagons 
that are based on shapes besides strips of triangles.  While some 
wouldn't apply (the figure eight required paper which overlaps itself), 
others might be appropriate for printing.

I've seen 3-D flexing toys too, often with M.C. Escher motifs.  Could 
be a cool realm of exploration to combine flexagons with tesselations.

And the price of 3-D printers is coming down.  They're around US$30,000 
now, which is still steep, but in a few years having desktop "printing" 
of 3-D physical objects may be feasible.  It needs a new word though, 
since "printing" really sounds 2-D (to me).

--Dethe