MoMath in New York: where math intersects with pleasure and art | Science & Technology - newsindiatimes.com

Sujeet Rajan, News India Times summarizes, Galileo Galilei once said, “Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe.” 
 

Square-Wheeled Trike, at the National Museum of Mathematics, in New York.
Photo: MoMath.

Take a trip to the fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable National Museum of Mathematics (popularly known as MoMath) – located in a nondescript building adjacent to Madison Square Park, and within a short span of time one can understand the beauty and logic behind that line of reasoning.

Scores of quality science museums dot cities across the United States, but surprisingly, for the land that boast of having a high number of Field Medalists – the highest honor given to mathematicians since there is no Nobel Prize for the subject, as well as dominance in the International Mathematical Olympiad for high school students globally over the years – MoMath is the only museum devoted to math in North America.

A unique aspect of the museum is that it’s a place where children and adults alike can enjoy some terrific interactive exhibits, like a square-wheeled trike, where one can discover to one’s bemusement and pleasure that a ride on square wheels is not only possible, but quite smooth too. Or get behind a remote control and enjoy a “driver’s eye” view while navigating and exploring the surfaces of a Möbius strip and a trefoil knot. Or perfect how to score like an NBA champ at a hoop, using statistics on a monitor and an inclinable robotic basketball-shooter in a regulation-size free throw space...

A few years ago, the Atlantic reported how educators in the US stressed the importance of a solid math education – including in areas like geometry and even trigonometry – for all students, whether they go into engineering or philosophy, college or the workforce.
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Source: newsindiatimes.com