Last Math Monday: Möbius Strips
Last Monday we got cut up and taped strips of paper to make Möbius strips — one of the stranger and more surprising objects studied by mathematicians. It was invented by mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius in 1858.
We traced a line around a Möbius strip and found that it only has one side (“surface”), unlike an ordinary sheet of paper. We tried cutting one in half and found that it fell apart into one piece (instead of two), and cutting it in half again created to loops that were woven together. And we found that if you tape two (regular) loops together at a right angle and cut both in half, you get…a square frame. Weird.
- Here’s the slideshow from the event, including instructions for games you can play at home.
- And here’s a video replay of the event.