There is something very seductive about mathematical models and
equations. Whether it is their complexity and conciseness,
orderly arrangement of symbols and numbers on the page, or their
beauty as physical structures, they reflect the problem-solving
process in action. This crocheted and crennelated form,
reminiscent of living coral, is a model of a mathematical
structure known as hyperbolic space. The discovery that this
type of geometric structure could be modeled in crochet was
first made in 1997 by Dr. Daina Taimina, a mathematician working
at Cornell University. Her inspiration was based on a suggestion
put forward in the 1970s by an American geometer, William
Thurston. Thurston’s model, however, was made of paper and taped
together, making it inherently fragile and hard to handle.
Taimina found that the essence of this construction could be
implemented with crochet by increasing the number of stitches in
each row. With each increase, the surface naturally began to
ruffle and crenellate. The result is a