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Computational Origami and David Huffman

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the everyone-likes-math dept.

geeber writes "Here is an article about David Huffman's work in the mathematics of computational origami at the New York Times (soul sucking registration required). According to the article, computational origami, "also known as technical folding, or origami sekkei, draws on fields that include computational geometry, number theory, coding theory and linear algebra." David Huffman is also the inventor of Huffman coding used in MP3s and was mentioned prieviously here."

16 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Well, more famous for huffman coding long before by gorim · · Score: 5, Informative


    Huffman coding was one of the first codings used to compress data LONG LONG time ago, in a galaxy far far away where MP3's were billions of years yet to come in the future.

    It is real cool to see such pioneering people still involved in new things.

  2. Mmmm.... Oragami by swordboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yamaha Paper Craft

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    1. Re:Mmmm.... Oragami by e12532 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Nope, not origami... interesting models, but by cutting the paper, gluing, etc. They have gone beyond the limits of traditional origami into just "paper craft" as the website says.

  3. Non-Reg Link by swordboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Click through from Google.

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  4. Re:robot porn by Mz6 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here is Google's link

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  5. An excellent explanation of Huffman coding... by tcopeland · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...is in Mark Nelson's "The Data Compression Book".

    What's especially nice is that the book walks you thru the various steps - minimum redundancy coding, adaptive huffman coding, arithmetic coding... so the improvements are introduced gradually and logically. Good stuff.

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  6. Re:Impressive... by BrownDwarf · · Score: 4, Informative

    Check Amazon for the book mentioned in the article: Origami Design Secrets: Mathematical Methods There are some related titles that also look good.

  7. Re:What I liked best... by geeber · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are also some nice pictures of Huffman's origami here. The pictures also show Huffman himself doing the folding.

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  8. Re:OT: Drop the lame comments (General /. comment) by geeber · · Score: 5, Informative

    For what it is worth, as the article submitter, I wrote in the submission a simple "(reg. required)." Apparently CmdrTaco thought "(soul sucking registration required)" was far more informative, and edited it thusly. Which really annoys the crap out of me. Way to be professional.

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  9. google link by xiopher · · Score: 3, Informative

    google link here

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  10. Other Computational Origami Mathematicians by Eightlines · · Score: 5, Informative

    If this interests you, be sure to check out Erik Demaine's work at MIT, Issei Yoshino's Super Complex Origami, HOYJO Takashi, Biruta Kresling's Keikki Bamboo folds, Robert Lang's Design Secrets of Origami, Robert Hull's Origami^3 compilation. Not all computational origami looks mathematical but the methods for getting to and end are clearly designed from step one. Quite frankly I understand very little of the math, but I can appreciate the elegance of an efficient fold.

    1. Re:Other Computational Origami Mathematicians by Flexagon · · Score: 2, Informative

      A good link to Lang's work is here

  11. Re:Computational Folding by NorthDude · · Score: 2, Informative

    Directly from the article : Most computational origamists are driven by sheer curiosity and the aesthetic pleasure of these structures, but their work is also finding application in fields like astronomy and protein folding, and even automobile safety.

    I'm tempted to flame you like hell but well, it's just that I've read TFA. My bad, sorry! :-P

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  12. David Huffman by AaronW · · Score: 4, Informative

    I took a class taught by Professor Huffman at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He was an excellent teacher and really enjoyed teaching. The class, Introduction to Cybernetics, included Huffman coding and some basic neural network stuff, but never once did he call it Huffman Coding. One thing I remember from his class was we had to use a lot of logarithms and the results would have to be something like 5*log2(7) + log3(5). This ruled out using a calculator or a computer for the most part.

    He also frequently gave credit to Claude Shannon on information coding.

    Sadly (or fortunately) I avoided his other class, due to the fact that the failure rate was 60% for people taking the class for the second time. I think the first time takers failed at 90%.

    -Aaron

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  13. Another article by Ristoril · · Score: 2, Informative

    There was also an article in Computer World Magazine, about Robert Lang's software that's being used to fold stuff from airbags to solar panels in spacecraft.

  14. Re:Impressive... by kzinti · · Score: 3, Informative

    This folding project is not a Huffman or Lang, and it's not as impressive as those pictured in the Times article, with their sweeping curves and elegant surfaces. However, it does have a small element of the amazing "How do you get paper to DO that" quality. Best of all, it's fairly easy to fold and to improvise upon. Enjoy:

    http://www.sgi.com/grafica/fold/page001.html