The Symbol of Infinity Represented by the Art

ering & ine M g a n n E Tamir, Ind Eng Manage 2014, 3:3 a l g a i e r m t s DOI: 10.4172/2169-0316.1000e124 e u n d t n I Industrial Engineering & Management ISSN: 2169-0316 Editorial Open Access Artistic Demonstrations by Euclidean Geometry: Possible in 2D but Impossible in 3D Abraham Tamir* Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel Infinity is a concept that has different meanings in mathematics, hole. The right hand side of Figure 2 entitled “The False Mirror” is philosophy, cosmology and everyday language. However the common the artwork of the Belgian surrealist artist Rene Magritte. A giant eye to all meanings is that infinity is something that its content is higher is formed as a frame of a blue sky with clouds. The pupil of the eye than everything else or a process that will never reach its end. The creates a dead centre in a sharp colour contrast to the white and blue of mathematical symbol of infinity is demonstrated in the different the sky, and also with a contrast of form–the hard outline of the pupil artworks that are the major subject of this article. The most accepted against the soft curves and natural form of the clouds. Surprisingly, the definition of infinity is “a quantity greater than any assignable quantity combination of the original artwork on the right with its mirror image of the same kind”. Other definitions are as follows. In geometry it creates the symbol of infinity. Figures 3-5 are additional demonstration is related to the axioms where each straight line contains infinite of infinity where in Figure 6 it is based on the moustache of Salvador number of points. In cosmology the major question is if the universe Dali, a Spanish surrealist painter, whose image is demonstrated. On his will expand a process that will continue until infinity. In physics the moustache Dali said the following: “Since I don’t smoke, I decided to problem arises from the equations demonstrating physical reality the grow a moustache – it is better for the health.” Figure 7 was painted by result of which is infinity. In fractals, one of the most unusual aspects the Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder where Figures of them is that their repeating and changing patterns are infinite. They 8-12 by the Dutch graphic artist M.C.Escher. Figure 8 demonstrates infinity in two ways. The first by the symbol and the second by the can be magnified indefinitely without losing their structure; they have circles the diameters of which is continuously decreasing. Figure 9 infinite perimeters. And finally infinity appears also in the Bible, in Job entitled “Swans” and Figure 10 demonstrate infinity on the basis of the Chapter 5 verse 9:” Which does great things unreachable; marvellous moebius strip, which is a surface that has only one boundary. Figures 11 things without number” where “without number” means infinity. and 12 entitled “Circle Limit III” and “Circle Limit IV” are composed of The word infinity comes from the Latin word infinitas or an astounding combination of an identical single fish in Figure 11 and unboundeless. It was John Wallis, an English mathematician, who is a combination of two animals in Figure 12. In addition the components credited with introducing the infinity symbol in 1655. He derived it are diminishing in size towards the circumference of the circle. In from a Roman numeral for 1000 that was in turn derived from the addition the two patterns demonstrate fractals, namely geometric Etruscan numeral for 1000, which looked somewhat like and was patterns that are repeated at ever-smaller scales. Moreover, with respect sometimes used to mean “many.” Another conjecture is that he derived to the number of shapes, the two paintings may be considered as it from the Greek letter omega ω, the last letter in the Greek alphabet. demonstrating the tending to infinity of the number of shapes. The infinity symbol is also sometimes depicted as a special variation of the ancient snake symbol. The snake is twisted into the horizontal eight configurations while engaged in eating its own tail, a uniquely suitable symbol for endlessness. In the following the symbol of infinity is demonstrated by different artworks. Figure 1 demonstrates the infinity symbol falling into a black *Corresponding author: Abraham Tamir, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel, E-mail: [email protected] Received May 12, 2014; Accepted May 13, 2014; Published May 21, 2014 Citation: Tamir A (2014) The Symbol of Infinity Represented by the Art. Ind Eng Manage 3: e124. doi: 10.4172/2169-0316.1000e124 Copyright: © 2014 Tamir A. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted Figure (1-12): Images related to the article . use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Ind Eng Manage Volume 3 • Issue 3 • 1000e124 ISSN: 2169-0316, IEM an open access journal .

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