Doin' the Mobius Strip

From: Dan Drazen <drazen_at_andrews.edu>
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 22:42:53 -0500 (EST)

>
> No. August Ferdinand Mobius was a German mathematician who lived 1790 -1868.
> I'm not sure what his claim to fame is, but I'm sure you can find out from
> sources at your local library.
>
> Hope this helps,
> GrayRider1_at_aol.com
>

Mobius' claim to fame is the Mobius Strip (no, it's not a suggestive
dance ;-) ). To make your own, take a strip of paper and glue it into
a circle, putting a twist in it at the same time.

Now, if you draw a line on one side of the paper, and keep drawing it,
you'll soon meet the line where it started. In effect, you've been
working with a one-sided object: something with three dimensions yet
only one side! There's another variation of this concept known as the
Klein Bottle...but we'll leave it at that for now.

BTW: in "Blast to the Past" Part 1, the device on the "royal signet"
Sally is wearing is a serpent looped in a figure-8 about to bite its own
tail -- a close enough heraldic representation of a Mobius strip.

Daniel J. Drazen
drazen_at_andrews.edu
Sonic FAQ File custodian


Received on Tue Feb 14 1995 - 22:42:30 PST