Poster #65 - Akari's Problem: Dimension, Connectivity, and Topological Thinking in Fiber Mathematics

• In Event: 77.059 - MTCC Tuesday Poster Session 18
  In Poster Session: 77.059-10 - Mathematics Education Research Poster Session

Abstract

The term "fiber mathematics" refers to the mathematical activity entailed in textile arts. This paper seeks to expand our knowledge of how mathematics is pursued differently through material media by focusing on fiber mathematics in contemporary weaving workshops. Drawing on inclusive materialism to rethink the entanglement of mathematics and matter (de Freitas & Sinclair, 2014), I analyze data collected in a two-week weaving workshop, focusing on how participants worked with the mathematical concepts of dimension and connectivity in problems that were at once both topological and material. Through an analysis of one student’s work, “Akari’s Problem,” I explore how the loom operates as a rich experimental field for the (re)creation of mathematical concepts.

Author

• Kate O'Brien, Manchester Metropolitan University