Object Details
- Richard P. Baker
- Description
- This string model was constructed by Richard P. Baker, long on the faculty of the University of Iowa. He believed that models were essential for the teaching of many parts of mathematics and physics, and over one hundred of his models are in the museum collections.
- The blue yarn represents a curve called a twisted cubic, which cannot be contained in a plane. The tangent lines to the twisted cubic are represented by yellow threads. The mathematician Leonhard Euler had proved that the surface generated by these tangents can be flattened into a plane.
- A paper tag on the bottom of the frame reads: Quartic surface (/) developable of (/) a twisted cubic. It does not include Baker's name.
- Compare to 1985.0112.128 (a model by the German maker Ludwig Brill) and MA.211257.122 (a mirror image of this model, by Baker).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Brown University Department of Mathematics
- ID Number
- MA.304722.29
- catalog number
- 304722.29
- accession number
- 304722
- Object Name
- Geometric Model
- geometric model
- Physical Description
- wood (overall material)
- thread (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 36 cm x 36 cm x 36 cm; 14 3/16 in x 14 3/16 in x 14 3/16 in
- place made
- United States: Iowa
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Mathematics
- Record ID
- nmah_1213864
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-a121-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
