Introduction

Many art galleries exhibit sculptures constructed of taut strings or wires strung on wood or metal frames. The genesis of much of this form of art is the static string models originally devised and constructed by Gaspard Monge in the late eighteenth century, and the subsequent articulated models of his student Theodore Olivier in the nineteenth century. These models were constructed as three-dimensional aids in the teaching of descriptive geometry in the nineteenth century.

Simple models that exhibit surfaces such as hyperboloids and warped planes can be constructed for classroom use by the instructor or teams of students. These models can then be used to explore families of surfaces as well as aspects of nineteenth century mathematics and education.

History

With the advent of computer aided design, several subjects have disappeared from school and college curricula. Those related to this chapter are drafting, scientific drawing (as well as drawing in its own right) and descriptive geometry. Computers bring new and wondrous worlds to the classroom and allow us to explore ideas at deeper levels than before. However, there is something to be said for getting your hands dirty, so to speak, and experiencing the physical side of mathematics and science.

Throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, students at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, were required to study all of the above mentioned subjects.