Wednesday, July 10, 2013

How Far is Memphis from Arkansas....in Dominoes?

Two thousand four hundred and twenty. That's right, 2,420 dominoes will get you from the shores of Arkansas to the Bluff of Memphis, TN. Sort of.

The number is 2,420 equals 55 times 44. That means 44 sets of double nine dominoes (55 in each set). Using program written to use image processing and mathematical optimization, we determined the optimal way to use the dark black of the blank tiles and the bright white of the 9's to best portray an image of the Memphis Bridge.

The idea was inspired from the cover a Mathematics Monthly that featured artwork by Robert Bosch whose website is www.dominoartwork.com.

Students from Collegiate School of Memphis, sponsored by Mr. Chris Purdy, helped assemble the image along with one of a cougar for the school. The funds for the project were supplied by an UpLift Grant from Regions Bank.

 

The Memphis Bridge is on display at the Given Garden on the corner of Holmes and Given. Come by and get your picture taken next to the bridge!



Lance Luttrell


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