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Western University

The Look of Math

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

If consideration is given to math’s look when it is written out, math can be experienced visually without working with or understanding its logical content. This “meaningless math” then becomes a vessel into which new contextual meaning is injected by a given observer. “The look of math” is a part of ethnomathematics, or the culture of mathematics, which necessarily and anti-Platonically (i.e., taking math to be purely a human endeavor) contains mathematics per se. Formal elements in math-as-art can be categorized as algebraic, geometric, diagrammatic, or organic. The main idea is not “math can be art,” but rather that math has a look, which is not the same thing as math’s inner structure, and which is exploitable in nonmathematical ways. However, math has special properties that amplify its importance as some specific thing that has rarely been isolated and defined as art, thereby granting math potential for contribution to art.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
MA
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Visual Arts
Year dc:date.issued
2011

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Teigen, Matthew James
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Mahon, Patrick

Subjects

dc:subject × 9

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:uwo.scholaris.ca:20.500.14721/18595

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Western University
Base URL
uwo.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-27
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Teigen, Matthew James. The Look of Math. 2011. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14721/18595