During high school math classes, I would often explore a form of art. I was a campanologist and I used to enjoy working on the mathematical sequences, known to such people as methods, in the back of my exercise book, once my lessons were completed. I would write the numbers from one to six, and then change their succession as I scrawled down my page, until reaching once again their starting order at some point. The teacher, when catching me 'doodling' in the back of my book, did not get cross. I explained to her that I had finished my work, and also that it was a mathematical matter I was attending to. There was generally a regularity, or pattern, within these pieces I created.

There are many non-numerical patterns that might be considered artistic, which occur within the field of mathematics. Symmetry is one that easily comes to mind; graphs used to depict statistical data are another. These oftentimes connect the realm of math with that of art. Numerically, data from mathematical problems can often appear artistic when sequentially recorded or examined as a whole. When using a computer to establish results, they often appear in the form of a pattern. Recognizing these patterns can oftentimes lead the mathematician to more easy solutions on subsequent calculations, by being able to use the data and the pattern to create their predictions and answers. One example of such would be the escalation of prime numbers.

Learn more about this author, Sande Waybill.
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