Hyperbolic Soccer Ball

 From The Texas A&M Math Circle
      (for middle school students)

 Frank Sottile      sottile@math.tamu.edu
 Texas A&M University


Organization Description:

  The TAMU Math Circle meets weekly at Texas A&M University 
each Saturday for students in grades 5-8.  It is organized by
Sottile and Phil Yasskin of the Mathematics Department and 
Alex Sprintson of the Electrical and Computer Engineering 
Department at Texas A&M, and supported by parent volunteers, 
graduate students, and postdocs.  Each meeting begins 
with a half hour of unstructured mathematical activity 
(games, puzzles, or mathematical toys) after which
the students split into two groups for a 90 minute 
structured activity (including a snack break).  For more,
see its web page: mathcircle.tamu.edu 


Activity Description:

   I will present the activity "Hyperbolic Soccer Ball".
This is suitable for all ages, having been tested on 
middle school students, on undergraduates, and on college 
teachers in Nigeria.  It illustrates key geometric features 
of the hyperbolic plane, and the participants create a 
beautiful and thought-provoking mathematical model.

This has a web page with pictures and materials
www.math.tamu.edu/~sottile/research/stories/hyperbolic_football/