25 September 2009

LVB9 - CDs in equilateral triangular arrangement (WIP)




LVB9 (see several posts below for full view of final artwork)
Inspired by the 9th symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven
The CDs (shown here in WIP-view 1) show a 3x3 (spatial) grid/tessellation of CDs formed by a total of 10 CDs.
This I decided to position in the top R-hand corner of the R-panel.

The blog post above presents some interesting history surrounding the number "9".

[These CDs were later 'distressed' and modulated. Ref other images in posts below]

6 comments:

Nick said...

I've been listening exclusively to #9 quite a bit since you posted, thinking about this doorway to the infinite. Aren't the circle and triangle the strongest geometric forms? Have you done much study of B. Fuller?

wayne said...

Hi Nick, It's a good point you make about these fundamental forms. As you'd know, the Greek geometers proved all their theorems with unmarked straight-edges and compasses (circles).

Re: B. Fuller.. I've known about the 'Bucky Ball" named after him, a Carbon allotrope consisting of 60 atoms arranged in a symmetrical shape approximating a sphere. The many other Carbon allotropes have been the subject of intense study. Nanotechnology for example has used 1-atom thick 'arrays'/ribbons/allotropes for various purposes. There's even serious talk of nano invisibility cloaks (a la Harry Potter) and these have already been made but still apparently have restrictions in what wavelengths they can hide and over what surface areas...

Regarding triangles and circles... There's more math in those two figures than bears mentioning. And I would forecast much more to come. The very first geometric figure to be constructed in Euclid's Elements was the equilateral triangle. And, imo, it has been the most neglected ever since.

When you combine a circle and a triangle in 3D you get a cone. As you know, the conic sections include the parabola, the ellipse, the hyperbola...
The conic sections are pivotal in math.

Isaac Newton was an undisputed master of the Conic Sections. So much so that Nobel Laureate in Physics, Richard Feynman, heaped praise on Newton for his thorough knowledge of CS.

wayne said...

BTW Nick, as I'm sure you know, the entire edifice of trigonometry rests, at a foundational level, upon the circle and the triangle (especially the right triangle). These give the trigonometric ratios. If trigonometry were to be 'taken out' of mathematics, particle physics, cosmology, etc, virtually the entire edifices of most of these would radically change, and in some instances completely collapse. [However my own view is that 'trigonometry' can and will be extended;)]
Best wishes again for your thought provoking coment.
cheers
Wayne

Nick said...

"As you know" assumes much that is not there! I'm embarrassingly dense on all matters of mathematics/physics/chemistry. The one class I could barely get a grasp on was geometry, I suppose because of the shape/visual aspects. But I still had to cheat on every test. Much to my father's chagrin, who, among other advanced studies, did mathematics at Univ. of Chicago when Fermi was there.
You're brilliant Wayne!

Nick said...

"As you know" assumes much that is not there! I'm embarrassingly dense on all matters of mathematics/physics/chemistry. The one class I could barely get a grasp on was geometry, I suppose because of the shape/visual aspects. But I still had to cheat on every test. Much to my father's chagrin, who, among other advanced studies, did mathematics at Univ. of Chicago when Fermi was there.
You're brilliant Wayne!

wayne said...

Hi Nick, Man I can't even delete the accidental double-post here!!! Seriously!!! Duh, I think I have to go back to blog school!! Plus my reply to you should have been earlier...sincere apologies..
Fermi as you know was a hot-shot particle-physics man!! Well, actually a pretty darn good 'all round' world class physicist --and that's to understate it incredibly as he also won a Nobel Prize in physics(!!!) as you know.. That your Dad studied math at Univ of Chicago when Enrico Fermi was there ... Wow!!!! You never told me this before!!
(I am still convinced that we mustn't underestimate the power of fundamental geometry and number theory...)
I can easily imagine how you'd be a natural at geometry! And I think a lot of musos and artists would have a leaning in that direction in math.
Thanks again Nick,
Wayne