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A Panoply of Polygons presents and organizes hundreds of beautiful, surprising and intriguing results about polygons with more than four sides. (A Cornucopia of Quadrilaterals, a previous volume by the same authors, thoroughly explored the properties of four-sided polygons.) This panoply consists of eight chapters, one dedicated to polygonal basics, the next ones dedicated to pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons and many-sided polygons. Then miscellaneous classes of polygons are explored (e.g., lattice, rectilinear, zonogons, cyclic, tangential) and the final chapter presents polygonal numbers (figurate numbers based on polygons). Applications, real-life examples, and uses in art and architecture complement the presentation where many proofs with a visual nature are included. A Panoply of Polygons can be used as a supplement to a high school or college geometry course. It can also be used as a source for group projects or extra-credit assignments. It will appeal, and be accessible to, anyone with an interest in plane geometry. Claudi Alsina and Roger Nelsen are, jointly and individually, the authors of thirteen previous MAA/AMS books. Those books, and this one, celebrate and illuminate the power of visualization in learning, teaching, and creating mathematics.

The study of the geometry of structures that arise in a variety of specific natural systems, such as chemical, physical, biological, and geological, revealed the existence of a wide range of types of polytopes of the highest dimension that were unknown in classical geometry. At the same time, new properties of polytopes were discovered as well as the geometric patterns to which they obey. There is a need to classify these types of polytopes of the highest dimension by listing their properties and formulating the laws to which they obey. The Classes of Higher Dimensional Polytopes in Chemical, Physical, and Biological Systems explains the meaning of higher dimensions and systematically generalizes the results of geometric research in various fields of knowledge. This book is useful both for the fundamental development of geometry and for the development of branches of science related to human activities. It builds upon previous books published by the author on this topic. Covering areas such as heredity, geometry, and dimensions, this reference work is ideal for researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, industry professionals, instructors, and students.

The main focus of this unique book is an in-depth examination of the polygonal technique; the primary method used by master artists of the past in creating Islamic geometric patterns. The author details the design methodology responsible for this all-but-lost art form and presents evidence for its use from the historical record, both of which are vital contributions to the understanding of this ornamental tradition. Additionally, the author examines the historical development of Islamic geometric patterns, the significance of geometric design within the broader context of Islamic ornament as a whole, the formative role that geometry plays throughout the Islamic ornamental arts (including calligraphy, the floral idiom, dome decoration, geometric patterns, and more), and the underexamined question of pattern classification.Featuring over 600 beautiful color images, Islamic Geometric Patterns: Their Historical Development and Traditional Methods of Construction is a valuable addition to the literature of Islamic art, architecture and geometric patterns. This book is ideal for students and scholars of geometry, the history of mathematics, and the history of Islamic art, architecture, and culture. In addition, artists, designers, craftspeople, and architects will all find this book an exceptionally informative and useful asset in their fields.Jay Bonner is an architectural ornamentalist and unaffiliated scholar of Islamic geometric design. He received his MDes from the Royal College of Art in London (1983). He has contributed ornamental designs for many international architectural projects, including the expansion of both the al-Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque) in Mecca, and the al-Masjid an Nawabi (Prophet's Mosque) in Medina, as well the Tomb of Sheikh Hujwiri in Lahore, and the Ismaili Centre in London – to name but a few. He is committed to the revitalization of Islamic geometric design through the teaching of traditional methodological practices. To this end, in addition to publishing, Jay Bonner has lectured and taught design seminars at many universities and conferences in North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia.

Flexagons are made by folding paper in certain ways and when they are flexed, turned and unfolded in different ways, they show puzzling and curious effects. Hidden inside a flexagon are a number of concealed faces and the challenge is to discover how to flex them into view smoothly and with confidence. Some of this extensive collection are in the form of puzzles to be solved, others have rather mysterious properties.