Painting - <I>Archimedes Transversal</I>
date: label: date made
content: ca 1974
name: label: referenced
content: Archimedes
label: painter
content: Johnson, Crockett
notes: label: Description
content: The construction of regular polygons using straightedge and compass alone is a problem that has intrigued mathematicians from ancient times. Crockett Johnson was particularly interested in the construction of regular seven-sided figures or heptagons, which require not only a compass but a marked straight edge. The mathematician Archimedes reportedly proposed such a construction, which was included in a treatise now lost. Relying heavily on Thomas Heath's <I>Manual of Greek Mathematics</I>, Crockett Johnson prepared this painting.
label: Description
content: Archimedes had reduced the problem of finding a regular hexagon to that of finding two points that divided a line segment into two mean proportionals. He then used a construction somewhat like that of the painting to find a line segment divided as desired. Crockett Johnson's papers include not only photocopies of the relevant portion of Heath, but his own diagrams.
label: Description
content: The painting is #104 in the series. It is in acrylic or oil on masonite., and has purple, yellow, green and blue sections. There is a black wooden frame. The painting is unsigned and undated. Relevant correspondence in the Crockett Johnson papers dates from 1974.
label: Description
content: References: Heath, Thomas L., <I> A Manual of Greek Mathematics</I> (1963 edition), pp. 340–2.
label: Description
content: Crockett Johnson, "A construction for a regular heptagon," <I>Mathematical Gazette</I>, 59 (March 1975): pp. 17–18.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Crockett Johnson
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content: Art
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Ruth Krauss in memory of Crockett Johnson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.1093.71
label: catalog number
content: 1979.1093.71
label: accession number
content: 1979.1093
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: masonite (substrate material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (frame material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 83.4 cm x 83 cm x 4.5 cm; 32 13/16 in x 32 11/16 in x 1 3/4 in