Interactive Logic Gate Display
Get this device here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Interactive Logic Gate Display
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Interactive Logic Gate Display: the most basic four binary/Boolean logic operations that are the fundamental components of modern computers- presented here appropriately on a standard green printed circuit board (PCB) complete with the truth table for each device. These logic gates are the basic building blocks of any logic circuit, from multiplexers, arithmetic logic units, and computer memory to full microprocessors which may contain hundreds of millions of such gates on a microchip. An educational, elegant, and fun design by Tyler Jacobs.
d6 Cube Spin Tops
Get these d6 tops here:
Fron Etsy: BUY NOW: d6 Spin Tops
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d6 Cube Tops: symmetry axes are often associated with interesting physics. For instance- a cube can spin like a top. Here we see that d6s can spin in a very stable fashion.
Skew Dice (d6 and d12)
Get these skew dice here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Skew d6 set
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Skew d12 set
Click here for other amazing dice.
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Skew Dice (d6 and d12): these dice are skewed- but their odds aren’t! These unusually shaped dice are completely fair- roll them and the probability of outcomes are identical to a standard set of dice. The odd shapes of the skew d6s are a special type of polyhedra called asymmetric trigonal trapezohedra, and these d12s are tetrahedic pentagon dodecahedrons (swipe). These skew forms come in right and left handed versions(swipe twice) and these sets come with one of each mirror image. What allows these shapes to be fair like a cube has to do with their property of being isohedral, where each face of an object will map onto all other faces via a symmetry of the object. Manufactured by The Dice Lab team of Robert Fathauer and Henry Segerman.
Tesseract Projection
Get this CNC machined math art here:
From AltDynamic: BUYNOW: Hypercube/Tesseract
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Tesseract Projection: a shadow of the 4-dimensional analogue to the cube, also called a hypercube or 8-cell. A tesseract(4D) is to a cube(3D) as a cube is to a square(2D). This piece of mathematical art is CNC machined from a solid piece of aluminum and anodized black- a representation, including perspective, of one possible shadow a hypercube could cast into 3D space. Multidimensional mathematics are often used in the formulations of physics, and visualizations such as this one help give insights. Another amazing creation from @altdynamic design studio.
Dodecahedron Infinity Mirror
This lamp is interesting, but the fabrication is low quality. Still, it is fun to see the internal reflections and it would make for a great party light. Definitely read the reviews before purchasing! ($30-$45 USD)
From Amazon: Dodecahedron Infinty Lamp
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Dodecahedron Infinity Lamp: lit from within by strips of LEDs the 12 plastic mirrored faces create a universe of interesting internal reflections. While the manufacturing quality of this item is pretty low, when the lights are off it looks pretty amazing.
Wobbler Roller
Get this very nice laser cut version here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Desk Wobbler
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Check out my posts on similar geometric objects: developable rollers
Wobbler Roller: a very simple toy today- two half circle perimeters affixed at right angles which surprisingly can then roll in a straight line with a peculiar wobble motion. When rolling, a wobbler always touches the table top at two points which could be connected by a straight line, and forms the frame of the geometric shape called a sphericon (featured in a previous post).
Dymaxion Map
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From Art of Play: BUY NOW: Dymaxion Folding Globe
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Dymaxion Map: today some math fun with this unique mapping of the Earth where the globe is projected onto an icosahedron and then unfolded onto two dimensions. Invented by the famous architect R. Buckminster Fuller, the Dymaxion projection map is designed such that it does not have a “right way up” and showing the continents as “one island Earth”. This mapping also produces less distortion of relative areas and shapes- note here that Greenland looks, correctly, much smaller than Africa- unlike what is seen on many world maps where they look the same size. This version, designed by Brendan Ravenhill, uses flat magnets to allow a very satisfying transformation between the flat 2D net and the 3D icosahedron “globe”.
Soma and Rhoma Puzzles
The Rhoma Cube is a vintage item and can sometimes be found on Etsy
Soma Cubes are available in wide viariety:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Soma Cube
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Rhoma Puzzle
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
SOMA and RHOMA Puzzles: Replace every cube in the Soma puzzle with a rhombohedron to create the Rhoma puzzle- where the seven slanted pieces now make a larger rhombohedron. Here I’ve painted the corresponding Soma and Rhoma pieces to match on these sister puzzles that share identical edge lengths. While there are 240 ways to make the larger cube from the 7 Soma pieces, there is only one solution for the 7 Rhoma pieces. The original Soma Cube is a math toy has an interesting connection to physics- invented by Danish scientist and artist Piet Hein who claimed that this puzzle idea came to him as he was listening to a lecture on Quantum Mechanics by Werner Heisenberg in 1933. The seven pieces are all the ways 3 or 4 cubes can be joined, such that each piece has at least one inside corner.
High Voltage Wood Burn Fractal
Beautiful wood fractal art available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: High Voltage Fractal Art
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High Voltage Wood Burn Fractal: a classic Lichtenberg fractal created by electrical discharge- in this piece artist/maker Nic Ferretti applied cobalt blue epoxy resin to fill the cavities of the burn pattern and create the look of frozen lightning. Swipe to see my attempt at this process with an old neon sign high voltage transformer using 7500 V at 20 mA. I turned the power off right before the two sides connected to get the fern-like look. The wood is slightly wetted with baking soda dissolved in tap water. WARNING high voltage can kill- do not use a transformer like this unless you are fully trained in electrical high voltage safety.
The iTOP
Well engineered brass spinning toys by SiriusEnigmas:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: The iTOP
From Etsy: BUY NOW: The PhiTOP
From Etsy: BUY NOW: The eTOP
From Etsy: BUY NOW: The PiTOP
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
The iTOP: inverting spinning disk- the equilibrium state for a spinning thing is often different from that of the same object when stationary. When spun, the iTOP almost instantly inverts to raise its center of mass (shown in slow motion because it happens so fast). However, when the rotation speed decreases to a certain rate the system becomes unstable (shown again in slow motion) and flips again before going into a rolling/spinning motion like a coin. This top completes the set of four spin tops by astrophysicist Kenneth Brecher, all made of polished brass and themed on a mathematical constant: iTOP (square-root of -1), PhiTOP (golden ratio, φ), eTOP (base of the natural log), and the PiTOP (C/D of a circle, π).
3D Wordflip Sculpture
Create your own here:
From sparenbergdesign.com: BUY NOW: 3D Wordflip
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3D WordFlip Sculpture: from one point of view my logo appears, rotate 90 degrees and the sculpture reveals my tagline phrase “real magic”. Alternatively the messages can be cast as shadows (swipe to view). Amazingly you can create and print any two phrases of your choosing from the webpage of artist and designer Joris Sparenberg.
The eTOP
Get this and other beautifully crafted math themed tops here:
Fropm Etsy: BUY NOW: The eTOP
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
The eTOP: an ellipsoid based on the famous Euler’s constant e, diameter 2” and thickness 2/e”- spinning magnets from the magnetic stirrer induce electric currents to flow in the copper eTOP- these currents then create their own magnetic field which opposes the magnets underneath and pushes the eTOP to spin, producing interesting motion and sound. Credit to astrophysicist Kenneth Brecher, the creator of the eTOP, PhiTOP, and this unique means of using Lenz’s Law to spin it up. This top stands up vertically (when spun with sufficient rotational velocity) due to physics similar to that of the tippe-top. The concave mirror keeps the top from wandering off of magnetic stirrer.
The PiTOP
Well engineered brass spinning toys by SiriusEnigmas
From Etsy: BUY NOW: The PiTOP
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
The PiTOP: this beautiful brass cylinder has a radius of 1 inch, a height of 1/π inches, and displays the first 109 digits of π on its face. Spin this disk (best with sound on) and it will demonstrate some very interesting physics involving energy transfer and conservation of angular momentum. The edges of the cylinder are rounded and engineered to exhibit an optimum motion of a “spolling” coin, a motion that combines spinning and rolling (closeup shown in 240fps). As the disk’s angle of inclination decreases the speed of the rolling increases dramatically until the contact point with the mirror is moving in excess of 200mph. From the mind of physicist Ken Brecher, inventor of the PhiTOP. Note also that with the specified height, that the volume of this cylinder is exactly 1 cubic inch!
Stomachion Puzzle
Get this 3-color laser cut acrylic version here:
From Kadon Enterprises: BUY NOW: Stomachion Puzzle
Also a very nice multicolor acyrlic version here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Stomachion Puzzle
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Learn about the 1998 discovery of the lost writings of Archimedes (and the technology used to recover them) in this TED talk.
Ancient Stomachion Puzzle: the oldest known puzzle, discovered in the writings of the great Greek physicist and mathematician Archimedes from some 2200 years ago. The puzzle is a dissection of a square into 14 polygons, where the areas of each piece are integer multiples of each other (a curious way to slice it up). In 2003 Bill Cutler showed that there are 536 district ways to configure these pieces to make the square (five are shown here), ignoring simple rotations and reflections. Swipe to see the most famous solution, attributed to Archimedes himself, that was found in an ancient manuscript discovered only in 1998- before this date historians knew the name of the puzzle, but no one knew what it looked like. Kate Jones, the maker of this particularly aesthetic version, found that when using only three colors for the polygons, there are only 6 solutions where no two pieces of the same color touch (four solutions shown here).
Frabjous Geometric Sculpture Puzzle
Get one here- five colors to choose from:
From MoMath: BUY NOW: Frabjous Sculpture Puzzle
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Frabjous Geometric Sculpture Puzzle: 30 identical laser cut acrylic pieces interlock into 12 interconnected five point stars (each with a spiral vortex center) in this puzzle based of the Frabjous sculpture by artist and professor of mathematics George Hart (Prof. Hart is now on Instagram, follow him at @george.hart.sculptor to see more of his amazing work.) Note that if one connects the tips of the stars one gets the outline of a dodecahedron, with its 30 edges and 12 sides, and if one considers the face planes of the linked pentagrams the underlying shape is a polyhedron called the “great rhombic triacontahedron”. A year or so ago I got to visit the National Museum of Mathematics in NYC where I bought this puzzle in the @momath1 museum shop. This puzzle was great fun to assemble- buy one to support this inspirational museum, and make a great sculpture for your bookshelf!
Platonic Solids Dice Set
Get this nice set of regular polyhedra dice here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Polyhedra Dice Set
Less expensive sets of standard plastic dice here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Polyhedra Dice Set
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Platonic Solids Dice Set: The five famous convex regular polyhedra in the form of fair dice. This set is cast in metal with clean edges and makes for a great way to own these symmetrical objects that have fascinated thinkers ever since the ancient Greeks wrote about them circa 360 BC. Only these five forms meet these criteria (in 3D space) for each face: must be equal in size, be equal in number of sides, each side of equal length, identical in angle were any two sides meet, and have the same number of sides meet at each vertex point of the solid. 2000 years later the famous mathematician Euler determined that for these 5 shapes V-E+F=2, the number of corners (vertices), minus the number of edges, plus the number of faces, will always equal 2.
Infinity Cube Sculpture
Get an infinity cube here (many colors and sizes to choose from):
From Ricardo Churchill (Etsy): BUY NOW: Infinity Cube
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Infinity Cube Sculpture: crafted from solid stainless steel and powder coated orange, the geometry of this mathematical sculpture is the perimeter of the faces of a cube traced by a nonintersecting connection of equal line segments. When viewed from a corner, a cube has a hexagonal cross section, and some may recall the famous logo of Silicon Graphics computers based on such an infinity cube (a design by Scott Kim). Rotating this “tubed cube” along a diagonal axis reveals the interesting symmetries of this geometric construction.