Fractal Trianglethon a Giant Success!
March 24, 2010 by FractalMan
Filed under For Kids, Fractal Trianglethon, Fractals in the News
The Fractal Foundation constructed the world’s largest fractal triangle on March 14, 2010 (PI-Day) in the Albuquerque Convention Center. Over 40 volunteers helped build the giant triangle and celebrate math, art, and the amazing wonder of fractals. The giant triangle was assembled out of 2187 individual triangles made by children from all over the world.
While 2187 is the number required to assemble a 7th order fractal triangle, 96 feet on a side, so many students had participated that there were enough to keep building, and altogether the pattern was extended to include 4036 triangles.
See a timelapse video of the assembly, which took place over almost 2 hours:
We are continuing the project, and next year we intend to break our own record by assembling an 8th order fractal triangle, 196 feet on a side, comprised of 6561 individual triangles.
We need more triangles, so Please Participate!
Ruby, a student volunteer, handed out packs of 27 triangles to the assemblers.
A sample triangle, showing how much detail the students put into many of the fractals.
Children assembled fractal tetrahedrons, taking the project to the next dimension
Children from the Camberwell Grammar School in Victoria, Australia. While most of the 4036 triangles in the Trianglethon were made by students in New Mexico, many triangles came from much further.
Gigantic thanks to all who participated: the dozens of volunteers who helped build the giant triangle, and especially to the thousands of children who each contributed a triangle!
And much gratitude to the Albuquerque Convention Center, for generously providing their ballrooms for the event. We look forward to returning next year in the even larger exhibit hall!
Congratulations and thanks, to our Participating Schools:
ALBUQUERQUE:
Annunciation
Apache Elementary
Bandelier Elementary
Bellehaven Elementary
Christ Lutheran
Corrales Elementary
Comanche Elementary
Dennis Chavez Elementary
Double Eagle Elementary
Eastern Hills Christian Academy
Ernie Pyle Middle School
Escuela del Sol Montessori
Governor Bent Elementary
Harrison Middle School
Hodgin Elementary
Inez Elementary
Lavaland Elementary
Lowell Elementary
Mission Avenue Elementary
Monte Vista Elementary
Montezuma Elementary
North Valley Academy
Petroglyph Elementary
San Antonito Elementary
SevenBar Elementary
Sunset Mesa Elementary
Sunset View Elementary
Sierra Vista Elementary
Susie Rayos Marmon Elementary
SY Jackson Elementary
Tierra Antigua Elementary
Valley High School
Vision Quest Alternative
Zuni Elementary
RIO RANCHO:
Cielo Azul Elementary
Enchanted Hills Elementary
Martin Luther King
Sandia Vista
NEW MEXICO:
Acoma - Sky City Elementary
Bosque Farms Elementary
Carlsbad - Alta Vista MS
Edgewood Elementary
Placitas Elementary
Ramah HS
Roswell - Mountain View MS
Santa Rosa MS
Silver City, Harrison Schmidt ES
THE WORLD:
Lyle School, Minnesota,
Camberwell Junior School
Canterbury, Australia
Have we forgotten anyone? Please let us know!
World’s Largest Fractal Triangle - coming 3/14!
January 27, 2010 by FractalMan
Filed under For Kids, For Teachers, Fractal Trianglethon, Fractals in the News
We’re building a giant fractal made of 2187 student-made triangles, and we need your help! “The Fractal Trianglethon” will be the world’s largest fractal triangle. It’s going to be 96 feet wide! We’ve reserved the Albuquerque Convention Center west complex ballroom for the whole day for this event on March 14th 2010. Please join us in the excitement and help build the giant fractal! Children and adults welcome.
Please email “Volunteers (at) FractalFoundation.org” to sign up for a shift!
Timeline:
- Shift 1: 8:30AM-12 noon: We build the giant Fractal!
- Shift 2: 12 noon - 3:00 PM: We open the hall to the public at noon
- Shift 3: 3:00 - 6:00 PM: Celebration and Clean up.
At 3:14 PM, we will officially certify the World Record, and take a group photo with as many kids as we can squeeze into the fractal.
At 3:30 we will move to the atrium and unveil the new student winners of the Albuquerque Fractal Challenge and present their awards.
At 5:00 we start cleaning up the fractal triangles.
The date of the World Record event, March 14th is mathematically significant. It’s known as Pi-day, and is celebrated all over the world by math-lovers. Even more appropriately, it is the birthday of Waclaw Sierpinski, the inventor of this fantastic triangle. What better birthday present than to have thousands of children build the world’s largest Sierpinski Triangle!
Many thanks to the Albuquerque Convention Center for generously donating the ballroom for this event!
Children from the MESA club in Carlsbad NM displaying their contributions to the Trianglethon. Shown here are ~81 triangles. The giant Fractal Triangle will contain 27 times more triangles!
Fractals in Silver City
November 5, 2009 by FractalMan
Filed under Fractal Trianglethon, Fractals in School
The Fractal Foundation visited Silver City, NM, for the first time, as part of our ongoing campaign to Leave No Child unfractalled in New Mexico.
Many thanks to Tom Gruzska of the Western New Mexico University Math Department for inviting us down to bring fractals to the students of Silver City. Over the course of three presentations, we taught fractals to undergraduate calculus students, Aldo Leopold High School students, and many elementary school kids as well. Oh yes, lots of parents showed up to for the evening, family fractal night. The kids loved making fractal triangles too, which will be part of the world-record-breaking Fractal Trianglethon.
Happy kids making fractals in Silver City NM.
See - and make - fractals at the NM State Fair
September 14, 2009 by FractalMan
Filed under For Kids, Fractal Challenge, Fractal Trianglethon, Fractals in the News
The 8 winning fractals from the Albuquerque Fractal Challenge have been installed on the NM State Fairgrounds, and they look spectacular!
We’re also hosting a table in the School Arts Building where you can come learn about fractals, and kids can make a fractal triangle that will be part of the Trianglethon project, where we’re making the world’s largest fractal triangle. We’ll be there till Sept 27, and hope you can come check it out. Many thanks to our great volunteers for staffing the booth!
Some of the winners from the Fractal Challenge, on display at the Fair:
Jazimine R, 5th grader from Apache Elementary
Olivea R, 5th grader from Corrales Elementary
Monique L, 7th grader from Washington Middle School
Many thanks to Resolution Graphics for donating the printing, and to Symbiotic Builders for donating the installation. Also to Albuquerque’s Urban Enhancement Trust Fund and Albuquerque Community Foundation for sponsoring the Fractal Challenge!
Announcing the Fractal Trianglethon!
March 5, 2009 by FractalMan
Filed under For Kids, For Teachers, Fractal Trianglethon, Fractals in School
Help New Mexico Students create the world’s largest fractal triangle - and set a Guinness World Record! We’re teaching thousands of children around New Mexico to create the fractal pattern known as the Sierpinski Triangle. Children from 1’st grade and up are excited to participate in this fun, beautiful and educational activity.
Once the students have made their own triangles, we can combine three of these triangles to form a larger, self-similar version:
3 triangles
The next step is to combine 3 of these groups of 3 triangles into a bigger version:
9 triangles
Next, we combine 3 of these bigger groups to make a big fractal triangle:
27 triangles
This represents the output of one class, and it took about 30 minutes to make. The next step is to combine the fractals from 3 classes, to make a big triangle of 81 pieces. Then we will triple that to get 243 triangles, etc…
We will be assembling a GIANT fractal triangle, made of the combined output of 243 classes of 27 triangles each. That is 6561 children whose art will be part of this gigantic fractal. The finished piece will be 192 feet on a side. If we can only generate 2143 triangles, we will still set the World Record, and the finished triangle will be 96′ on a side.
We will be assembling it on March 14th, 2010, in the Albuquerque Convention Center, westside ballroom, all day long. Please join us!
We need lots of volunteer help to pull this off! Please contact volunteers (at) fractalfoundation.org to get involved!
Download the lesson plan and learn to do this project yourself in Fractivities.
Children from the MESA club in Carlsbad NM displaying their contribution to the Trianglethon.
