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Mathematical Lego Sculptures

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the too-much-time-on-your-hands dept.

Daedalus_ writes "Some guy has created mathematical surfaces (mobius strips, klein bottles, etc) out of Legos. He also has some other interesting creations (such as Dilbert figurines and a Hoberman Sphere)."

20 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. Holy crap! by TheCyko1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lego people can walk sideways on buildings?? We must make them our leaders!

    --
    This message was brought to you by the death of 30 brain cells.
    1. Re:Holy crap! by cdtoad · · Score: 5, Funny

      THEY'RE NOT LEGO PEOPLE! The polically correct term is "MiniFig". Please refer to them as such since "Lego People" is a demoralizing term.

      --
      when they ban enctryption only criminals wi$21*J *#JF$%!@#$':
  2. And the conjugate... by digitalhermit · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Creating legos out of mathematical surfaces... (Use POVRay to render this :D).

    #include "colors.inc"
    #include "textures.inc"
    #include "metals.inc"

    camera {
    location
    look_at
    }

    plane { , -1
    pigment {
    checker color Red, color Blue
    }
    }

    light_source { color White} // example of object unions

    #declare lego=union {
    box {
    ,

    }

    #declare cyl1=cylinder {
    , .5
    }

    object { cyl1 }
    object { cyl1 translate }
    object { cyl1 translate }
    object { cyl1 translate }
    object { cyl1 translate }
    object { cyl1 translate }

    texture { Glossy
    pigment { Red }
    }

    }

    object { lego }
    object { lego
    translate
    rotate 20*y
    }

    1. Re:And the conjugate... by digitalhermit · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Let's try this again...

      #include "colors.inc"
      #include "textures.inc"
      #include "metals.inc"

      camera {
      location < 0, 8, -8 >
      look_at < 0, 1, 2 >
      }

      plane { <0, 1, 0>, -1
      pigment {
      checker color Red, color Blue
      }
      }

      light_source { <2, 4, -3> color White} // example of object unions

      #declare lego=union {
      box {
      <6, 0, 0>,
      <0, 2, 4>
      }

      #declare cyl1=cylinder {
      <1, 0, 1>,
      <1, 2.5, 1> .5
      }

      object { cyl1 }
      object { cyl1 translate < 2, 0, 0> }
      object { cyl1 translate < 4, 0, 0> }
      object { cyl1 translate < 0, 0, 2> }
      object { cyl1 translate < 2, 0, 2> }
      object { cyl1 translate < 4, 0, 2> }

      texture { Glossy
      pigment { Red }
      }

      }

      object { lego }
      object { lego
      translate < -6, 0, 5 >
      rotate 20*y
      }

  3. Figure Eight Knot by abigor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That is totally amazing. And for what it's worth, I think it's a worthwhile use of his time (not that my opinion on how someone uses their time matters, but whatever). I don't know, to me for some reason non-trivial acts of creation like this seem to touch whatever it is to be human -- our creative endowment is one of our signature traits, I think. What impulse would drive this sort of creative urge, to create beautiful mathematical shapes out of Lego, of all things? Whatever it is, it's mysterious, and it wasn't a waste of time. That figure eight knot is incredible.

  4. Wow.... by RaboKrabekian · · Score: 5, Funny

    Very, very cool.

    Now show me a hypercube and I'll be really impressed.

    --
    "Moderate drinking can help prevent amputated limbs" -- Abigail Zuger, NYTimes, 12/31/02
    1. Re:Wow.... by Hollinger · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's easy. Take a 4-cube. Pass it through 3-space, and what you'll see is an infinitely small cube at the point in the center of the 4-cube which will then grow to the cross-sectional size of the 4-cube, and shrink back down. Not too hard to wrap your head around. Tesseracts are a totally different matter...

      --
      Michael C. Hollinger
    2. Re:Wow.... by NaDrew · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I was hoping to see a Calabi-Yau space, myself. How many 1x3's would that take?

      --
      Vista:XPSP2::ME:98SE
    3. Re:Wow.... by ErfC · · Score: 5, Informative
      That's easy. Take a 4-cube. Pass it through 3-space, and what you'll see is an infinitely small cube at the point in the center of the 4-cube which will then grow to the cross-sectional size of the 4-cube, and shrink back down. Not too hard to wrap your head around. Tesseracts are a totally different matter...

      I disagree. That nicely describes what happens with a sphere, but not so much with a cube.

      I guess it depends on how it's passing through 3-space. The best way to imagine this stuff is to imagine a 3-D object passing through 2-space. If you pass the cube through corner first, you'll get something like what you describe, except the cross sections will be triangular most of the time. Edge on, you'll get rectangles.

      Face-on, your 2-space will see nothing until the 3-cube hits it, then the 2-space will see a square just sitting there until the 3-cube is all the way through.

      What's the difference between a tesseract and a 4-cube? According to Eric Weisstein, it seems they're the same thing.

      --

      -Erf C.
      Cthulu always calls collect...

  5. Other lego sculpture sites by Juhaa · · Score: 5, Informative

    I love Andrew Lipson's Math site, thought it was on slashdot for a while. If you like to see other such sites check out Eric Harshbarge's Lego page (cool stuff like wedding cakes and skyscrapers), Henry Lim's totally awsome lego sculptures, he's even got Natalie Portman (Not naked, and next to the petrified beethovan). BTW, Eric's got a very interesting page on on San Mononoke (more on those).

  6. actually by Catskul · · Score: 3, Funny


    Actually, he mentions building something to amuse his 5 year old son,
    so I imagine that he IS married...

    He must have a very patient wife : )

    --

    Im not here now... Im out KILLING pepperoni
  7. I love it by nfras · · Score: 4, Funny

    On his other page I particularly liked the machine for switching itself off. Mind you, he'd need to be careful, he might be breaching Microsoft's patent on Windows.

    --
    You call me a pedant? I prefer the term "correct"
  8. Oh yeah? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can make a near-perfect rectangular parallelepiped out of single Lego brick. Top THAT!

  9. Mirror Site by zerocool^ · · Score: 3, Informative


    Mirror site up.

    www.netmar.com/~will/lego

    Disclaimers:
    1.) Not my work, I don't claim any of it.
    2.) I didn't get the .DAT files.
    3.) I know it's not slashdotted yet, just preparing/ karma whoring.
    4.) If it does get slashdotted, and everyone starts testing my load balancing, why not sign up for hosting at the same time? We're running a no setup fee promotion at the moment.

    ~Will

    P.S. became friends with the :%s/JPG/jpg command - when I saved the images, the file extentions converted themselves to lowercase. God bless vi.

    --
    sig?
  10. Hypercube by magicslax · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Even if we did this the BEST way to view a hypercube would be either to go to the 4th dimension to look at one, or have a creature from the 4th dimension come here and make a 3d representation of on.

    ..and the second best way is right here.

  11. Two heads are better.......than one by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny


    I would like to see this guy get together with the creater of this site:

    http://drew.corrupt.net/lp/series2.html

    The Kline Bottle would then never be looked at in the same light.

    (Warning: not for minors)

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  12. Lego Mandelbrot Set, Anyone? by Peahippo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm a firm believer in Legos * and am thoroughly convinced that they helped strongly in developing my inquisitive intellect. I still have my Legos from when I was 10.

    Look at 'em: they teach you to design, build, modify, and to have the patience for all of that. Legos are the best thing for the price that I can think of that can spur a young intellect. (Erector Sets were great for that too.) And if you get older and still play with them ... well, here's hoping that the world's first Lego Julia or Mandelbrot set will be made within our lifetimes. Lipson's surface models are just beautiful, so just imagine the beauty of a more sophisticated set.

    BTW, I am down on all this Lego model crap I see in the stores. Give kids a bucket of basic blocks and let them create ... that's the strength and appeal of Legos. However, I admit that the addition of gears makes the entire matter more challenging, perhaps for the 14+ age group.

    * Legos {tm} is the registered trademark of some silly corporation or something like that.

    --
    [also misbehaves on Kuro5hin as Peahippo]
  13. Re:Klein's bottle by dpp · · Score: 4, Informative

    I believe Clifford Stoll (of Cuckoo's Egg fame) makes them out of glass. See www.kleinbottle.com.

    --
    This post is strictly my own opinion and not necessarily that of my employer.
  14. Not to be picky... by carnageonline · · Score: 3, Informative

    Sorry, but technically a klein bottle is a four-dimensional figure (impossible to A) comprehend and B) create). Still looks cool!

  15. Re:Lego Pieces by DrEldarion · · Score: 4, Informative

    Shop.lego.com probably.

    -- Dr. Eldarion --