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LIFESTYLE 13A The Princeton Packet Friday, June 24, 2011 Editor Michael Redmond • 609-874-2159 • [email protected] I never fall part because I never fall together. — Andy Warhol SPOTLIGHT Volunteer! PACKET PICKS The art of science Above: ‘Insomnia’ by Arielle Qua. Above: ‘Pumpkin Orbs’ by Sam Windom. Above: ‘Ocean Debris’ by Justine Steinberger. In mathematics, a pol- ynomial is an expres- sion of finite length constructed from vari- ables (also known as indeterminates) and constants, using only the operations of addi- tion, subtraction, mul- tiplication, and non- negative integer expo- nents. (Wiki) Saturday, June 25 Saving the queen Honeybees are crucial to food production. Colony Col- lapse Disorder—a phenome- non where honeybees vanish from their hives — has caused widespread alarm amongst farmers who depend on honeybees for crop pollina- tion. The Whole Earth Center and Princeton Public Library are cosponsoring the screening of “Queen of the Sun: What are the bees telling us?” — an in-depth investigation into the causes and solutions behind Colony Collapse Disorder. The screening will be held on Monday, June 27, at 7 p.m. in the Community Room at the Princeton Public Library. “Queen of The Sun” fol- lows the voices and visions of beekeepers, philosophers, and scientists from around the world, all struggling for the survival of the bees. While in- vestigating the crisis affecting the bees, “Queen of The Sun” balances the dark reality we face with both the secret won- der of the beehive and the good humor of devoted bee- keepers. The film contrasts verdant landscapes and thriv- ing beescapes with the harsh- ness of global industrial agri- culture. “Queen of The Sun” re- veals bees as a barometer of the health of the world. Bees fly millions of miles to keep the earth in bloom and have provided humans with honey, wax and pollination for our food for over 10,000 years. Through animation and illumi- nated imagery, “Queen of The Sun” uncovers how bees were highly revered by the Egyptians, Mayans and Greeks, and explores how the bond between humans and bees, once a sacred partner- ship, is now a complicated, profit-driven, industrial enter- prise. To promote the film and the benefits of providing bee habitats, the Whole Earth Cen- ter will have a honey tasting event, with beeswax crafts and information about pollinator gardens, at the store on Satur- day, June 25, from 9 a.m. to noon. The Whole Earth Center is located at 360 Nassau St/. Princeton. On the Web: www.quee- nofthesun.com. Monday, June 27 Greeting the duchess Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, will launch her much-anticipated memoir, “Finding Sarah,” at 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble at Princeton MarketFair, 3535 US Route 1 South, West Windsor. Line passes will be distrib- uted starting at 9 a.m. on June 27 at the mall checkout area. The purchase of at least one copy of “Finding Sarah,” with receipt from either Barnes & Noble or www.bn.com, will required to receive a line pass for signing line. — Michael Redmond By Pat Ellard Special to The Packet The man approached the board, and the teens straightened up, boys and girls alike. They wanted to see what he would write. The banter stopped. “Hey, look at my computer” gave way to silence. It was impressive. The man’s voice was soft, but it carried to the corners of the room. “So, you see, this is an irra- tional number,” he said, pointing to the square root of 2 on the board. Irrational or not, it didn’t matter. As pertaining to a polynomial, it was just fine. I hadn’t heard the expression “irrational num- ber” since Algebra II. I’m reasonably good at math — I can halve or double a recipe with no trouble at all, figure out how many doll outfits can be made from a piece of cloth, how much time I need to do that last errand compared to how much time I have. Some might call these irrational cal- culations, but not this man. Dr. Bahman Kalantari is a serious mathematician/computer scientist, one who can handle irrational numbers and irrational calcula- tions with equal ease. Today he is volunteering in Montgomery High School, showing Mike Stern’s class in Discrete Math how polynomials can be the source of some lovely artwork. Some of the designs are like fractals, where a shape changes slightly and repeats both itself and the change ad infinitum. But the designs don’t have to be frac- tals. For you math lovers out there, Wikipedia cites Mandelbrot’s “The Fractal Geometry of Na- ture,” which describes a fractal as “a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole.“ Dr. Kalantari’s day job is professor of Com- puter Science at Rutgers. He is a world traveler, having demonstrated this facet of math and com- puter science in Japan, South Korea, Paris, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Argentina. But today he is volunteering in Montgomery, and his work is fas- cinating the class. Whoever said that females don’t like math should see these girls, graphing polynomials, changing them into designs so love- ly that they would take your breath away. And whoever thinks males don’t like art should see these boys and the admiration they have for the designs Dr. Kalantari’s software produces. Polynomiography, Dr. Kalantari’s topic today, bridges the gap between math and art, combining them into patterns that have balance, symmetry and equilibrium. He tells the class, “Solving poly- nomial equations is the foundation of science.” He describes the solution, or root, of a polynomial as a set of points. Polynomiography as “a game of hide-and-seek with a bunch of points,” he says. His software seeks those points and uses them to make designs. The math is not simple. In preparation for Dr. Kalantari’s visit, Mr. Stern gave his class a lesson on Newton’s method of approximation. He also invited one of the school’s art teachers to speak to the class about art. Today Dr. Kalantari is helping the students manipulate the software to solve the polynomials and create the designs. The designs are exquisite, and no two are alike. Dr. Kalantari says that his software is like a camera. “You and I might each have a camera, but we take different pictures.” It’s true — each person’s inner eye will recognize different things as beautiful or noteworthy.Dr. Kalantari has dem- onstrated his software to other groups, not just high school or college students. He has even shown it to “ ... very young kids,” he says. “They love it, but their parents can’t pronounce it.” Poly- nom-ee-OG-raphy: I have trouble with it, too. “The beauty of it [is that] it catches the attention of the young. They start and they get amazed at the simplicity of it,” he says. It certainly has caught my attention. “Making Math Fun – Poten- tial Uses for Polynomiography in Special Educa- tion” is the title of a project of one of his under- graduate students in an interdisciplinary course he teaches at Rutgers University. Dr. Kalantari hopes that his software will eventually be used in K-12 education across the country. The software and the designs speak for themselves; this is fun for all ages and can be understood on many different levels. “Is it just good for creating art?” I ask. “No,” Dr Kalantari answers. “A scanner could read the polynomial graph rather than a number or a bar code.” My husband suggests that it is somewhat like cryptography and might have application there. Dr. Kalantari nods with approval. My hus- band understands better than I do. Polynomiogra- phy can even be used to tell a story. Dr. Kalantari used it to illustrate “A Futuristic Love Story,” which recounts the tale of a (fictional) young lady who gave her suitor her address – in the form of a polynomiograph. He solved it, and ... — ah, but I don’t want to spoil the story! To enjoy more of these unusual designs, sign on to www.polynomiography.com. To contact Dr. Kalantari, write to [email protected]. Sarah Ferguson IN THE KITCHEN Blueberries! Try exploring the Tri-County Co-op By Pat Tanner Special Writer For much of its history, which began around 1933, farmers from within a 20-mile radius of Hightstown would gather at the Tri-County Co- operative to auction off their fresh-picked Jersey produce to the highest bidder. Anyone willing to buy by the bushel or other large quantity was wel- come to bid, although few members of the general public ever showed up. That included me — who for more than 10 years lived within walking dis- tance of the auction’s open-sided wood-plank docks, just off Mercer Street where Hightstown ends and East Windsor begins. The public began to show up in 2008, when farmers on the co-op’s board brought in Pegi Bal- lister-Howells to manage sales and to implement key changes that would bring this historic produce exchange into the 21st century. Key among these was to offer direct sales from farmer to buyer at set prices three times a week. In high growing season, sales take place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, starting at 5:30 p.m. The change has See BLUEBERRIES, Page 16A
