Presenters:   Elio Caccavale   Dawn Danby   Olaf Dreyer   Juan Geuer   Rob Godman   John Hatch   Kenneth A. Huff   Mantissa   Miroslav Lovric   Sally McKay   Eric Raymond   S. David Rosner   Mariano Sardón   Frederic P. Schuller   Krister Shalm   Lydia Sharman &   Stephen Morris   Donald Spector   Joseph Thywissen   Marion Tränkle   Koala Yip Symposium Mathematics and Beauty in Islamic Architecture: Case Study of Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain by Miroslav Lovric Dept of Mathematcis and Statistics, McMaster University http://www.math.mcmaster.ca/lovric/lovric.html There is much to see and admire in the Alhambra Palace: exquisite rooms, decorated with stone and wood carvings, finest ornaments, and calligraphy; night sky represented in ceilings built of thousands of pieces of wood; gardens, courtyards and fountains; monuments, towers, archways - the list is endless. Quite possibly, an immense wealth of ornamental patterns, friezes, mosaics, star designs, and brickwork motifs tops the list. Among those, mosaics are perhaps the most interesting and the most intriguing. Scientists and artists working in the Islamic world pushed geometry to its limits, creating patterns and configurations whose sophistication has never been surpassed. Investigating numerous possibilities, based on experience and long tradition, builders of mosaics in the Alhambra created them all Ð in the sense of the mathematics theorem on the classification of plane crystallographic groups (or wallpaper patterns). Mosaics are an invitation for a 'dynamic' experience, different from enjoying a picture of a landscape. Our eye is not able to focus on one location; there is no centre, no boundary and no preferred direction. This presentation suggests the use of a vocabulary from geometry to express some of our visual experiences. Biography: Miroslav Lovric is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at McMaster University. His areas of research interest include differential geometry, mathematics education and connections between art, mathematics and architecture. Miroslav published several papers on mathematics in art, and is presently working on a book about symmetry.   Page Top Copyright © 2004 Subtle Technologies Festival