“here is a pic of my tattoo based on the golden spiral and a nautilus shell. i’ve wanted to get this done since high school and finally got up the courage to take the plunge earlier this year. it is now a constant reminder that mathematics is the language of nature.”–Thom
Posts Tagged ‘math tattoos’
Golden Spiral Shell
Fourier Transform
“I got this tattoo, which encircles my left wrist, in 2000. The tat is described by this function(1/n)*sin(nx)
with n from 1 to 6. I had done a lot of work with fourier transforms on the research project I was involved in as an undergrad physics student, and just find the entire concept very beautiful. At the time that I got the tat, I was a master’s student in materials science and was taking a class on fourier optics. As music also plays a very large role in my life, the image/concept has a double meaning for me. As an added ‘feature’, the artist made a small mistake on the inside of my wrist (the n=4 line disappears for a bit). This really bugged me at first until I decided it was a good metaphor for how the messy reality of life is never perfectly represented by our mathematical theories.”
–Andrea Grant (now a climatology PhD student in Switzerland, where nerdy tattoos are still pretty shocking….)
The Julia Set
“It is an approximation of the locus of connectedness for the Julia sets of the family of functions f(z) = z^2 + lambda/(z^2) (rotated by pi/2). This is analogous to the standard Mandelbrot set (which applies to the family f(z) = z^2 + c), but holds additional fascination because for lambda values which are in the interior of one of the subdomains of the connectedness locus, the Julia set is a Universal Curve. To me this represents the structure unifying chaos (since Julia sets are chaotic) and order (since Universal Curves act as a sort of catalog of all planar curves).” –Aaron
Y combinator
“I don’t quite have a science tattoo, but I have a math tattoo. That’s close enough, right?”Now, for the explanation. This is a formula called the Y Combinator. It is a fixed-point combinator in the lambda calculus and was discovered by Haskell Curry, a rather prolific mathematician and logician whose work helped start Computer Science.
“What this formula does is calculates the fixed point of a function, which in turn allows for recursion by calling on that fixed point; recursion is perhaps the single most important concept in Computer Science. Being a computer scientist and a mathematician, this formula is very important to me and represents the innate beauty of computer science and mathematical logic.” –Mark
[Note from Carl: Math is most welcome at the Emporium]
Phi
“This is my science tattoo. It’s the greek symbol for Phi, and it represents the golden ratio.” –Jeff
Nearly a Golden Spiral
“Here’s mine, a rough approximation of the golden spiral… but more accurately a simple logarithmic spiral.”–Dave Stroup
Koch Fractal
“I’m an evolutionary biologist student at Middlebury College. This tattoo was done at True Love Tattoo in Berkeley CA and is my attempt to show both the beauty and my love of chaos in nature. “–Sam Dakota Miller
Mobius Strip
“I am a Rocket Scientist (Friends Named me that, more like Mechanical Engineer) and an Amatuer Astronomer. Got this tattoo on my inner right arm, since the Science inside of me is screaming to come out. Going to get another related Tattoo on my left inner arm next year. Not really going much further than that (as far as I know). ” –Spacemanbobby
Originally published here: www.flickr.com/photos/spacemanbob/1084139169/
Black Hole Physics
Bart writes, “”I’m just happy that the artist now understands what a Swartzchild Radius is.”
Euler’s Identity
Tristan writes, “As the movie ‘Pi’ has now so clichely put it, “Numbers are the language of nature.” As a physicist, I always felt this was one of the most beautiful sentences in that language — a medley of the five most important numbers. Through an odd turn of events, this is actually my own handwriting from a bar napkin.” www.rpgroup.caltech.edu/~natsirt/tatoo.jpg
Algorithm
Mithras writes, “Pinkhaired Girl, a CS Ph.D. student, has this tattoo.”
Pi
Jeff writes, “I’m a computer engineering student, and as I study a lot of math, I got Pi on my arm…”
