Model of the Radius of Torsion of a Twisted Polygon, by Richard P. Baker, Baker #145
date: label: date made
content: ca 1906-1935
name: label: maker
content: Baker, Richard P.
notes: label: Description
content: This model is one of several hundred designed by Richard P. Baker, a mathematics faculty member at the University of Iowa. It includes a painted sheet metal circle with black lines. Four wires support this. A mark reads: No. 145 (/) TW. POLYGON; RADIUS OF TOR-(/)SION. The object is presently in pieces.
label: Description
content: A twisted polygon is a closed broken line whose sides do not all lie in the same plane. The torsion of any curve in space is a measure of how sharply a curve is twisting out of its plane of curvature. The radius of torsion is the inverse of the torsion.
label: Description
content: In Baker’s 1931 catalog, he included models relating to twisting polygons amidst his models for differential geometry. For representations of twisted polygons, see MA.211257.019, MA.211257.020, and MA.211257.022.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Baker, R.P., <I>Mathematical Models</I>, Iowa City, Iowa, 1931, p. 11.
label: Description
content: Smith, C. <I>An Elementary Treatise on Solid Geometry</I>, London: Macmillan, 1897, pp. 199-200.
label: Description
content: “Torsion of a Curve,” Wikipedia, accessed August 28, 2020.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Frances E. Baker
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.211257.029
label: accession number
content: 211257
label: catalog number
content: 211257.029
objectType: label: Object Name
content: geometric model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: white (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: red (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: blue (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: soldered (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 18.9 cm x 11.5 cm x 19.1 cm; 7 7/16 in x 4 17/32 in x 7 17/32 in