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Department of Mathematics

Photo: UHH/MIN/Ranokel

The Beauty of Mathematics

If you talk to mathematicians and ask them what they find so fascinating about mathematics, many of them answer in unison: mathematics is clear, beautiful and aesthetic!

In the winter semester, we ask six professors from the Department of Mathematics what fascinates them about mathematics and what they find beautiful about it. Every month there will be a new video showing their individual view of mathematics and its fascination. Here you can watch all the videos that have been published:

Illustration von Prof. Dr. Armin Iske, wie er auf einer Veranstaltung seine Forschung präsentiert.

Photo: UHH/MIN/Ranokel

Episode 4 - On the road
Zeichnung von Prof. Jörn Behrens und seinem Freund an der Reling eines Fährschiffes.

Photo: UHH/MIN/Ranokel

Episode 3 - Mathematics as a language

Zeichnung der Kleinschen Flasche mit Kreide auf einer grünen Tafel.

Photo: UHH/MIN/Frickhoeffer

Inside equals outside

The term "Klein bottle" stands for a geometric object in which it is not possible to distinguish between the inside and the outside - that is, you can move from the inside of the bottle to the outside without going over an edge. It therefore has only one side and no edge. If you cut the "Klein bottle" apart, you get two Möbius strips. The geometric shape is named after the German mathematician Felix Klein, who first described it in 1882.

Zeichnung des Möbiusbands mit weißer Kreide auf grüner Tafel.

Photo: UHH/MIN/Frickhoeffer

Do it yourself!

The Möbius strip is very easy to make: Take a strip of paper, turn one of the two ends once around (along the longitudinal axis by 180 degrees) and glue the two ends together. This creates a ribbon where you can't distinguish between up and down or inside and outside. And if you cut the ribbon along the centre line, you get a new ribbon of double length.

Zeichnung des Goldenen Schnitts mit weißer Kreide auf einer grünen Tafel.

Photo: UHH/MIN/Frickhoeffer

The golden ratio

Spruce cones, artichokes and rose petals, the Nautilus shell, the Parthenon temple or our body proportions - the golden spiral, or the golden ratio, can be found in them. The golden ratio is the ratio of a distance where the longer distance makes up about 62 percent and the shorter distance about 38 percent of the total distance.