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| Testing the cards in a practice build |
Stand-up Mathematician Matt Parker, along with a team of volunteers are looking to build the world’s largest fractal, using over a million folded business cards.
A Menger sponge is a fractal based on a cube, which is made
of smaller cubes, which themselves are made of smaller cubes, and so on -
giving it the fractal property which makes it interesting to mathematicians -
plus, it looks very cool. It’s possible to build a Menger sponge using pieces
of rectangular card, using a simple folding technique and a little patience.
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| Matt Parker and a small version of the cube |
Matt, along with a collection of other mathematicians
organising events around the world, is building a MegaMenger - a giant
distributed fractal, composed of 20 smaller versions of itself. The Manchester
build is one of over 20 all taking place during the same week, and if all of
them are completed in time we’ll have built the biggest Menger sponge ever
made. There’ll be live video feeds from all the other locations, so you can
watch as everything comes together.
We’ll be building part of the whole MegaMenger fractal as
part of Manchester Science Festival on 25th and 26th October, and we’re looking
for keen volunteers to help us build it. If you’re free on either or both days
and want to be part of the building team, email info@megamenger.com and we’ll send you
details of how you can get involved. We'll also provide you with training you will need.
"It turns out that building a Menger sponge is brilliant fun and very addictive"
Marieke Navin, Manchester Science Festival Director
@MegaMenger #MegaMenger
@mcrscifest #msf14
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