Mathematics and Maypole Dancing
Christine von Renesse and Julianna Campbell

Proceedings of Bridges 2019: Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Education, Culture
Pages 615–620
Workshop Papers

Abstract

Our workshop will allow participants to explore some of the mathematics of maypole dancing. In groups of 6-10 they will dance the maypole dance, find representations of the generated patterns on the pole, and discover properties of the generated ribbon patterns. The inverse problem will also be explored: given a pattern, can we find a ribbon constellation that generates the pattern? The question becomes even more interesting if we change the traditional dance pattern.

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