[HN Gopher] Explorable Flexagons: Learn to create and flex flexa...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Explorable Flexagons: Learn to create and flex flexagons (2020)
        
       Author : PaulHoule
       Score  : 31 points
       Date   : 2025-02-06 12:39 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (loki3.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (loki3.com)
        
       | pcfwik wrote:
       | This book has some nice cuttable flexagon templates on thicker
       | paper, with designs: https://www.amazon.com/Fantastic-Flexagons-
       | Hexaflexagons-Oth...
       | 
       | The designs are fun, although I find that the thicker paper
       | actually makes them a bit harder to fold and flex than typical
       | printer paper.
       | 
       | If you find flexagons interesting, you might like trying to find
       | a copy of Martin Gardner's "Scientific American Book of
       | Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions" at your local used book
       | sale. The first chapter is about flexagons and it gets better
       | from there! Wonderful car ride, plane, etc. distractions.
       | 
       | https://www.amazon.com/Scientific-American-Mathematical-Puzz...
        
         | PaulHoule wrote:
         | If I remember right, the "Of Man and Manta" [1] trilogy by
         | Piers Anthony [2] was about a group of dimension travelers who
         | came to see flexagons as a model for their dimension traveling
         | network
         | 
         | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Man_and_Manta
         | 
         | [2] before Xanth became his albatross
        
       | benabbott wrote:
       | These things are super cool, I had this domain bookmarked!
       | 
       | When I was bored in school, I'd make kaleidocycles (a 3d but less
       | interesting flexagon) with a sheet of paper, a pencil, a ruler,
       | some scissors, and a glue stick. Once I learned Illustrator I
       | began to make some custom printed designed ones.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaleidocycle
        
         | PaulHoule wrote:
         | I remember kids in high school playing with these in the late
         | 1980s.
        
       | inasio wrote:
       | There's a Mexican sculptor (Sebastian [0]) that has made massive
       | flexagons (or something similar, cube-based) out of sheet metal.
       | At some point he sold books and kits for making them out of
       | cardboard, I had one or two, super cool stuff
       | 
       | [0]
       | https://galeriamonicasaucedo.com/artista/sebastian/66e23dbdc...
        
       | oidar wrote:
       | Looks like vi heart took down all of her youtube videos - which
       | is where i first learned of flexagon.
        
         | motes wrote:
         | nooo i hate this is how i found out. i miss the hexa flexa mex.
         | she definitely influenced how i would doodle mathy stuff in
         | class growing up
        
         | xp84 wrote:
         | That's heartbreaking to hear. I wonder what happened to vihart.
         | Her videos were so creative and fun.
        
         | dkurth wrote:
         | Sad to hear! I noticed that some are available through the
         | Internet Archive:
         | 
         | https://archive.org/details/Hexaflexagons
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2025-02-06 23:00 UTC)