Möbius Strip Riddle Solved

BigLug writes with news that two experts in non-linear dynamics, Gert van der Heijden and Eugene Starostin of University College London, have developed an algebraic equation that describes the Möbius strip — something that, you may be surprised to learn, had never been done since the form's discovery in 1858. ABC.net.au has an accessible short summary: "What determines the strip's shape is its differing areas of 'energy density,' they say. 'Energy density' means the stored, elastic energy that is contained in the strip as a result of the folding. Places where the strip is most bent have the highest energy density; conversely, places that are flat and unstressed by a fold have the least energy density."

Comments

Re:I Can't find It.

[SQLGuru]

I found this: http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/rs/halftw.ht m

Layne

Re:What if I make an SLA (stereolithography)?

[Telvin_3d]

I don't think so. i think the difference would be similar to the one between vector and raster graphics. If you have a vector circle and you print it out, it ceases to be a perfect, mathematically defined, circle. it is instead a picture that looks like a circle.

In a similar way, if you used this formula to generate a mobius strip in the 3D program of your choice and then print it out on a 3D printer, it ceases to be a true mobius strip and becomes an object that is shaped like a mobius strip. it is a subtle, but definable, difference.