Math in the News
Jigsaw Puzzles Designed Using Snowflake Math: No Two Are Alike
Boston-based design company Nervous System is using a script based on Laplacian growth to develop what they call “a puzzle for the 21st century.”
According to an article in Fast Company, Nervous is “famous for using computer-generated simulations of natural phenomenon to ‘grow’ objects like jewelry and lamps.” Two years ago, Nervous partners Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jesse Louis-Rosenberg began developing ways to create jigsaw puzzles using generative design.
Wanting each puzzle to have a unique pattern based on biological process, the company began researching growth patterns found in the natural world, finally deciding on Dendritic solidification, a specific type of Laplacian growth that is created when freezing temperatures create fingers of crystals.
According to an article in FastCoDesign:
After perfecting a script based on the phenomenon, Rosenkrantz and Louis-Rosenberg moved on to the images that would grace the puzzle boards. They decided to commission a number of different artists to create the images, beginning with Jonathan McCabe, a generative artist who makes vivid images based on reaction diffusion, a common mathematical model that occurs in everything from the stripes on tropical fish to the pattern of wind on sand dunes.
Source: FastCoDesign