Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Math Encounters:
"The Simplicity of Complexity: the art of unpuzzling mathematics"
featuring Hugo Parlier September 2023
How can we use puzzles to illustrate the process of mathematical research? Join mathematician Hugo Parlier for an exploration of the engaging Quadratis puzzles, which use simple rules on square-tiled surfaces and are engaging at all levels. Using ideas from topology, each puzzle can be associated with a “puzzle space” — the network you travel in while playing the puzzle. These spaces can be visualized and studied, and they turn out to have all sorts of interesting properties. From simple to difficult to potentially impossible, exploring these puzzles will allow us to experience the birth of mathematical complexity.
Special introduction by Alex Kontorovich, 2020-2021 Distinguished Visiting Professor for the Public Dissemination of Mathematics, National Museum of Mathematics.
Math Encounters is MoMath's popular free public presentation series celebrating the spectacular world of mathematics, produced with support from Simons Foundation International.
For further information, call the National Museum of Mathematics at 212-542-0566 or email mathencounters@momath.org.
Math Encounters:
"The Simplicity of Complexity: the art of unpuzzling mathematics"
featuring Hugo Parlier September 2023
How can we use puzzles to illustrate the process of mathematical research? Join mathematician Hugo Parlier for an exploration of the engaging Quadratis puzzles, which use simple rules on square-tiled surfaces and are engaging at all levels. Using ideas from topology, each puzzle can be associated with a “puzzle space” — the network you travel in while playing the puzzle. These spaces can be visualized and studied, and they turn out to have all sorts of interesting properties. From simple to difficult to potentially impossible, exploring these puzzles will allow us to experience the birth of mathematical complexity.
Special introduction by Alex Kontorovich, 2020-2021 Distinguished Visiting Professor for the Public Dissemination of Mathematics, National Museum of Mathematics.
Math Encounters is MoMath's popular free public presentation series celebrating the spectacular world of mathematics, produced with support from Simons Foundation International.
For further information, call the National Museum of Mathematics at 212-542-0566 or email mathencounters@momath.org.
