{"id":1413,"date":"2011-02-01T11:02:44","date_gmt":"2011-02-01T15:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mathgradblog.williams.edu\/?p=1413"},"modified":"2013-03-22T17:38:11","modified_gmt":"2013-03-22T17:38:11","slug":"appreciating-math-details-in-the-outside-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/2011\/02\/01\/appreciating-math-details-in-the-outside-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Appreciating math details in the outside world"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Diana Davis<\/a>
\nLast spring, I spent a few months reading and understanding a paper about regular octagons. I spent so much time looking at octagons, drawing octagons, and thinking about octagons, that I started noticing them in my everyday life, where I hadn’t noticed them before. For example, gazebos are usually octagonal:<\/p>\n

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Has your research led you to notice anything different about the world? (Keep reading for more pictures of octagonal structures.)
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\nMost lighthouses are also octagonal. Here is one I saw on Block Island this past fall:
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In Providence, octagons are very common in houses. Some just have octagonal rooms on one level, like these neighboring houses with matching turrets:
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Other houses have octagonal rooms the entire height of the house:
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My research has moved on from regular octagons, but I still notice them as I walk around during the day. Has your research (or your graduate math courses, etc.) led you to notice anything in the outside world that you didn’t notice before?<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Diana Davis Last spring, I spent a few months reading and understanding a paper about regular octagons. I spent so much time looking at octagons, drawing octagons, and thinking about octagons, that I started noticing them in my everyday … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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