Uploaded February 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
If you hit a ball on a pool table, it will bounce around for a while — it might even return to where it started and repeat its path. It turns out that these periodic trajectories are very beautiful, forming a unique kind of mathematical art. Join Dr. Diana Davis, Phillips Exeter Academy Instructor in Mathematics, as she shares an amazing array of images, discusses how she and her colleagues figured out how to draw these intricate paths, and reveals some surprising properties — buddies, families, and symmetry — that they discovered along the way. Special introduction by Amie Wilkinson, Professor of Mathematics, University of Chicago.
Math Encounters is a public presentation series celebrating the spectacular world of mathematics, presented by the Simons Foundation and the National Museum of Mathematics.
For further information, call the National Museum of Mathematics at
212-542-0566 or e-mail mathencounters@momath.org.
If you hit a ball on a pool table, it will bounce around for a while — it might even return to where it started and repeat its path. It turns out that these periodic trajectories are very beautiful, forming a unique kind of mathematical art. Join Dr. Diana Davis, Phillips Exeter Academy Instructor in Mathematics, as she shares an amazing array of images, discusses how she and her colleagues figured out how to draw these intricate paths, and reveals some surprising properties — buddies, families, and symmetry — that they discovered along the way. Special introduction by Amie Wilkinson, Professor of Mathematics, University of Chicago.
Math Encounters is a public presentation series celebrating the spectacular world of mathematics, presented by the Simons Foundation and the National Museum of Mathematics.
For further information, call the National Museum of Mathematics at
212-542-0566 or e-mail mathencounters@momath.org.
