Object Details
maker
Baker, Richard P.
Description
This model is one of several hundred designed by Richard P. Baker, a mathematics faculty member at the University of Iowa. It includes a painted sheet metal circle with black lines. Four wires support this. A mark reads: No. 145 (/) TW. POLYGON; RADIUS OF TOR-(/)SION. The object is presently in pieces.
A twisted polygon is a closed broken line whose sides do not all lie in the same plane. The torsion of any curve in space is a measure of how sharply a curve is twisting out of its plane of curvature. The radius of torsion is the inverse of the torsion.
In Baker’s 1931 catalog, he included models relating to twisting polygons amidst his models for differential geometry. For representations of twisted polygons, see MA.211257.019, MA.211257.020, and MA.211257.022.
References:
Baker, R.P., Mathematical Models, Iowa City, Iowa, 1931, p. 11.
Smith, C. An Elementary Treatise on Solid Geometry, London: Macmillan, 1897, pp. 199-200.
“Torsion of a Curve,” Wikipedia, accessed August 28, 2020.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Frances E. Baker
date made
ca 1906-1935
ID Number
MA.211257.029
accession number
211257
catalog number
211257.029
Object Name
geometric model
Physical Description
metal (overall material)
white (overall color)
red (overall color)
black (overall color)
blue (overall color)
soldered (overall production method/technique)
Measurements
average spatial: 18.9 cm x 11.5 cm x 19.1 cm; 7 7/16 in x 4 17/32 in x 7 17/32 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_1081174