Escher's art works
Esther Hall organized a lecture on STEAM disciplines with a theme of “Arts of Science · Curved Surfaces in Space at Infinity” on October 26th, 2022. Prof. Wulan, the director of the Institute of Mathematics of STU, and Associate Prof. Li Haoyu, the director of Major in Product Design at Cheung Kong School of Art & Design, were invited to attend the lecture. They discussed the possibility of overlapping mathematics and arts disciplines and showed audiences the sparks arising thereof.
“Is maths an important subject?”
“Do students majoring in arts need to take maths?”
“What’s the connection between maths and arts?”
Many students believe that maths and arts share no similarities and contrast sharply, because mathematical reasoning is rational, rigorous, and unemotional, while the artistic idea is emotional, unrestrained, and even random. Maths is so highbrow, abstruse, and intricate that most students find it difficult.
(Picture Source: NetEase)
“The Engine of Science Subjects” - Maths
Maths is really the oldest and most active science that animates the innovation and development of various fields. It is the condensation in space, the combination in quantity, and the bond in scientific development. It plays as a representative that lifts humans out of ignorance and moves towards an advanced civilization. Have you ever noticed the bright, splendid, and bewildering wisdom of mathematicians from each mathematical symbol while studying?
(Photo: Prof. Wulan)
Prof. Wulan explained the basic principles and applications of mathematics with profundity and an easy-to-understand approach in the lecture, and talked about the relationship between point-line-plane-volume and spatial dimension.
Point is always the profile of the line. Points stand side by side, which from a side view is revolving and becomes a plane when seen from a different angle. Behind one plane there are invisible planes, which constitutes a volume. Node points are brought by twists occurring in different dimensions and angles. When the five-dimensional space (with borders) is expanded as the six-dimensional space, it becomes a space at infinity.
(Photo: Prof. Wulan)
“The Core of Human Spirit” - Arts
Art is not only a way to reflect and express beauty, but also a source of power to promote human progress. Art and mathematics can be integrated to create a more profound beauty. Since mathematics is characterized by abstract thinking and strict logic, students can both master calculation skills and strengthen their logical thinking ability in mathematics courses. The in-depth combination of these two disciplines can promote students’ abilities to act in a harmonious and rigorous way, and lay a solid foundation for building a thinking system.
(Photo: Associate Prof. Li Haoyu)
During the lecture, Associate Prof. Li Haoyu shared the design model resulting from the course on “two-dimension transforming to three-dimension”. When it came to the topic of increasing popular AI technology, he pointed out that AI will be growing mature since big data technology has accumulated various complicate information and operation steps. Besides, because of the extremely fast running speed of AI programs, it is able to select the best usage from the stored data. On the contrary, human beings need plenty of time to digest and study, yet human brains are actually lazy. Even though AI technology lacks creativity, it could properly split, distribute, recombine and use the results and data created by human beings.
(Photo: Associate Prof. Li Haoyu)
What’s more, Associate Prof. Li also shared some exemplary architectures of the curved design, such as the curved architectural designs by Zaha Hadid who is the “master of deconstructivism”. Spatial structure and geometric construction were applied massively in those designs, and the vibrant architectural design proposals revealed the romantic taste that possessed oneness with nature. At the end of the lecture, Associate Prof. Li recommended and shared the textbook Basic Principles of Three-dimensional Spacewritten by him on curved and three-dimensional design philosophy.
(Image: cover page of Basic Principles of Three-dimensional Space)
Mathematics is far beyond a dull and boring theory. Mathematics is as content. We integrate art design into mathematics and have it be a part of natural motion. We transcend discovery but make inventions and innovations as well. It brides the communications among human beings, nature, and society.
(Picture: Curved Architectural Designs by Zaha Hadid)
(Photo: Students Who Are Taking Notes)
(Photo: Half Time - Guitarist Who Presented A Happy Show)
(Photo: Students Who Are Raising Questions)
(Photo of the Scene)
Mathematics and arts are inevitably interpenetrated on different levels, with each romance behind actually hoarding a rigorous logic. The integration of different disciplines inspires us with more fresh perspectives.
The lecture has come to a successful end, and we has received reflections from the attendees in the lecture feedback.
# SHE SAYS
2019 Food Safety and Detection Major, Xie Meiqi
One of the primary values I got out of the lecture was the sharing about education and innovation from the professors. The conclusion mostly goes ahead of example illustration in modern education, but this is contrary to the process of how we derive the rules. There is no absolute innovation, and we generally innovate on the basis of regular rules and with the orientation of problem-solving.
2019 Statistics Major, Huang Yaotao
As a student majoring in mathematics, I was fully intrigued when I first saw the lecture topic. This was because I could only hear the teacher spontaneously exclaim how beautiful it was when successfully proving the theorem or deriving the formula in the class. But I in fact couldn’t understand the way how maths and arts are combined and applied. I benefited a lot from Prof. Wulan’s lively and passionate speech. The arts of maths are not just the arts on paper, but the arts that could be applied to architecture and industry.
2020 Graduate Student, Yang Jiawen
Once again I appreciate the charm of mathematics and arts from the lecture. Actually, I came to know the philosophy of infinity a long time ago while studying maths, but I never analyzed its meaning seriously until today’s lecture when Prof. Wulan visualized the concept in front of us. Also, thanks to Prof. Wulan’s speech, I noticed those questions that I took for granted and never thought deeply about before. Even though I didn’t get a clear answer after discussing them with teachers, I grew my interest in keep digging and analyzing those questions. It’s a rare opportunity to speak directly with teachers from different disciplines. I really appreciate the opportunity offered by Esther Hall and I am looking forward to more events.
(Photo: Group Photo of the Lecture)
