Object Details
maker
Baker, Richard P.
Description
This geometric model was constructed by Richard P. Baker in the early twentieth century when he was Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Iowa. Baker believed that models were essential for the teaching of many parts of mathematics and physics, and over 100 of his models are in the museum collections.
This painted metal and wire structure has a tag that reads: No. 435 (/) Displacement; angle Bisector. It has a wooden base painted black, a painted metal wire extending up for the base, and a metal representation of a bisecting plane between two planes. The metal piece is presently not joined to the supporting wire.
Baker built nine models to correspond to figures described by the German mathematician Eduard Study in a book on the geometry of dynamics (shortened by Baker to Dynamen). This model is one of them, which he described in his 1931 catalog as representing the “Construction of proper angle bisector for two planes which are transforms [sic] by a screw.”
References:
Baker, R.P., Mathematical Models, Iowa City, 1931, p. 16.
Study, E., Geometrie der Dynamen: Die Zusammensetzung von Kräften und Verwandte Gegenstände der Geometrie Bearb., Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1903, esp. p. 16, Fig. 2.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Frances E. Baker
date made
ca 1906-1935
ID Number
MA.211257.086
accession number
211257
catalog number
211257.086
Object Name
geometric model
Physical Description
wood (overall material)
metal (overall material)
beige (overall color)
black (overall color)
support bolted through base. (overall production method/technique)
Measurements
average spatial: 13.2 cm x 19.2 cm x 14.3 cm; 5 3/16 in x 7 9/16 in x 5 5/8 in
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1087055