MIRROR
CURVES

by

SLAVIK JABLAN


"During the harvest month, Tamil women in South India draw designs in front of the thresholds of their houses. In order to prepare their drawings, they set out a rectangular reference frame of equidistant points. Then curves are drawn in such a way that they surround the dots without touching them. The (culturally) ideal design is composed of a single closed line."

P.P.J.Gerdes: On ethnomathematical research and symmetry,
Symmetry: Culture and Science 1, 2 (1990), 154-170.


"The Tchokwe people of northeast Angola are well known for their beautiful decorative art. When they meet, they illustrate their conversations by drawings on the ground. Most of these drawings belong to a long tradition. They refer to proverbs, fables, games, riddles, etc. and play an important role in the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the other.

P.P.J.Gerdes: On ethnomathematical research and symmetry,
Symmetry: Culture and Science 1, 2 (1990), 154-170.


"Leonardo spent much time in making a regular design of a series of knots so that the cord may be traced from one end to the other, the whole filling a round space..."

G.Bain: Celtic Art - the Methods of Construction, Dower, New York, 1973.


jablans@mi.sanu.ac.yu

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