Anyone browsing at the stationery store will see an incredible array of pop-up cards available for any occasion. The workings of pop-up cards and pop-up books can be remarkably intricate. Behind such designs lies beautiful geometry involving the intersection of circles, cones, and spheres, the movements of linkages, and other constructions. The geometry can be modelled by algebraic equations, whose solutions explain the dynamics. For example, several pop-up motions rely on the intersection of three spheres, a computation made every second for GPS location. Connecting the motions of the card structures with the algebra and geometry reveals abstract mathematics performing tangible calculations. Beginning with the nephroid in the 19th-century, the mathematics of pop-up design is now at the frontiers of rigid origami and algorithmic computational complexity. All topics are accessible to those familiar with high-school mathematics; no calculus required. Explanations are supplemented by 140+ figures and 20 animations.

Anyone browsing at the stationery store will see an incredible array of pop-up cards available for any occasion. The workings of pop-up cards and pop-up books can be remarkably intricate. Behind such designs lies beautiful geometry involving the intersection of circles, cones, and spheres, the movements of linkages, and other constructions. The geometry can be modelled by algebraic equations, whose solutions explain the dynamics. For example, several pop-up motions rely on the intersection of three spheres, a computation made every second for GPS location. Connecting the motions of the card structures with the algebra and geometry reveals abstract mathematics performing tangible calculations. Beginning with the nephroid in the 19th-century, the mathematics of pop-up design is now at the frontiers of rigid origami and algorithmic computational complexity. All topics are accessible to those familiar with high-school mathematics; no calculus required. Explanations are supplemented by 140+ figures and 20 animations.

What do proteins and pop-up cards have in common? How is opening a grocery bag different from opening a gift box? How can you cut out the letters for a whole word all at once with one straight scissors cut? How many ways are there to flatten a cube? You can answer these questions and more through the mathematics of folding and unfolding. From this book, you will discover new and old mathematical theorems by folding paper and find out how to reason toward proofs. With the help of 200 color figures, author Joseph O'Rourke explains these fascinating folding problems starting from high school algebra and geometry and introducing more advanced concepts in tangible contexts as they arise. He shows how variations on these basic problems lead directly to the frontiers of current mathematical research and offers ten accessible unsolved problems for the enterprising reader. Before tackling these, you can test your skills on fifty exercises with complete solutions. The book's Web site, http: //www.howtofoldit.org, has dynamic animations of many of the foldings and downloadable templates for readers to fold or cut out.

How can linkages, pieces of paper, and polyhedra be folded? The authors present hundreds of results and over 60 unsolved 'open problems' in this comprehensive look at the mathematics of folding, with an emphasis on algorithmic or computational aspects. Folding and unfolding problems have been implicit since Albrecht Durer in the early 1500s, but have only recently been studied in the mathematical literature. Over the past decade, there has been a surge of interest in these problems, with applications ranging from robotics to protein folding. A proof shows that it is possible to design a series of jointed bars moving only in a flat plane that can sign a name or trace any other algebraic curve. One remarkable algorithm shows you can fold any straight-line drawing on paper so that the complete drawing can be cut out with one straight scissors cut. Aimed primarily at advanced undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics or computer science, this lavishly illustrated book will fascinate a broad audience, from high school students to researchers.

What do proteins and pop-up cards have in common? How is opening a grocery bag different from opening a gift box? How can you cut out the letters for a whole word all at once with one straight scissors cut? How many ways are there to flatten a cube? You can answer these questions and more through the mathematics of folding and unfolding. From this book, you will discover new and old mathematical theorems by folding paper and find out how to reason toward proofs. With the help of 200 color figures, author Joseph O'Rourke explains these fascinating folding problems starting from high school algebra and geometry and introducing more advanced concepts in tangible contexts as they arise. He shows how variations on these basic problems lead directly to the frontiers of current mathematical research and offers ten accessible unsolved problems for the enterprising reader. Before tackling these, you can test your skills on fifty exercises with complete solutions. The book's Web site, http: //www.howtofoldit.org, has dynamic animations of many of the foldings and downloadable templates for readers to fold or cut out.

The Handbook of Discrete and Computational Geometry is intended as a reference book fully accessible to nonspecialists as well as specialists, covering all major aspects of both fields. The book offers the most important results and methods in discrete and computational geometry to those who use them in their work, both in the academic world-as researchers in mathematics and computer science-and in the professional world-as practitioners in fields as diverse as operations research, molecular biology, and robotics. Discrete geometry has contributed significantly to the growth of discrete mathematics in recent years. This has been fueled partly by the advent of powerful computers and by the recent explosion of activity in the relatively young field of computational geometry. This synthesis between discrete and computational geometry lies at the heart of this Handbook. A growing list of application fields includes combinatorial optimization, computer-aided design, computer graphics, crystallography, data analysis, error-correcting codes, geographic information systems, motion planning, operations research, pattern recognition, robotics, solid modeling, and tomography.

This is the newly-revised and expanded edition of a popular introduction to the design and implementation of geometry algorithms arising in areas such as computer graphics, robotics, and engineering design. The second edition contains material on several new topics, such as randomized algorithms for polygon triangulation, planar point location, 3D convex hull construction, intersection algorithms for ray-segment and ray-triangle, and point-in-polyhedron. A new "Sources" chapter points to supplemental literature for readers needing more information on any topic. A novel aspect is the inclusion of working C code for many of the algorithms, with discussion of practical implementation issues. The self-contained treatment presumes only an elementary knowledge of mathematics, but reaches topics on the frontier of current research, making it a useful reference for practitioners at all levels. The code in this new edition is significantly improved from the first edition, and four new routines are included. Java versions for this new edition are also available. All code is accessible from the book's Web site (http://cs.smith.edu/~orourke/) or by anonymous ftp.

How can linkages, pieces of paper, and polyhedra be folded? The authors present hundreds of results and over 60 unsolved 'open problems' in this comprehensive look at the mathematics of folding, with an emphasis on algorithmic or computational aspects. Folding and unfolding problems have been implicit since Albrecht Durer in the early 1500s, but have only recently been studied in the mathematical literature. Over the past decade, there has been a surge of interest in these problems, with applications ranging from robotics to protein folding. A proof shows that it is possible to design a series of jointed bars moving only in a flat plane that can sign a name or trace any other algebraic curve. One remarkable algorithm shows you can fold any straight-line drawing on paper so that the complete drawing can be cut out with one straight scissors cut. Aimed primarily at advanced undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics or computer science, this lavishly illustrated book will fascinate a broad audience, from high school students to researchers.