A Mathematical Tapestry

Peter Hilton is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the State University of New York (SUNY), Binghamton. Jean Pedersen is Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Santa Clara University, California. Sylvie Donmoyer is a professional artist and freelance illustrator.

Preface; 1. Flexagons - a beginning thread; 2. Another thread - 1-period paper folding; 3. More paper folding threads - 2-period paper-folding; 4. A number-theory thread - folding numbers, a number trick, and some titbits; 5. The polyhedron thread - building some polyhedra and defining a regular polyhedron; 6. Constructing dipyramids and rotating rings from straight strips of triangles; 7. Continuing the paper-folding and number theory threads; 8. A geometry and algebra thread - constructing, and using, Jennifer's puzzle; 9. A polyhedral geometry thread - constructing braided platonic solids and other woven polyhedra; 10. Combinatorial and symmetry threads; 11. Some golden threads - constructing more dodecahedra; 12. More combinatorial threads - collapsoids; 13. Group theory - the faces of the tri-hexaflexagon; 14. Combinatorial and group theory threads - extended face planes of the platonic solids; 15. A historical thread - involving the Euler characteristic, Descartes' total angular defect, and Pólya's dream; 16. Tying some loose ends together - symmetry, group theory, homologues, and the Pólya enumeration theorem; 17. Returning to the number theory thread - generalized quasi-order and coach theorems; References; Index.