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A Fine, Thin Thread
Kari Wyma-Dominey, mathematician
Carole Carter, fabric artist
introduced by K W Emert

      Seated across from her at Crabby Bill's in Key West, Florida in 2005, I marveled at finally finding myself inside my sister's world of mathematics. She's smart, my sister Kari. The rare kind of smart that uses both sides of the brain kind of smart. The kind of smart that takes not only French in high school but Latin kind of smart. The kind of smart that spends free time imagining other universes kind of smart. The kind of smart that when all her children are grown is considering returning for a post-bac degree in astrophysics kind of smart. Really smart. Way past me.
     We would tease her growing up, our brother Pete and me. Pete's smart, too, but he's the youngest. I'm the oldest and would boss him around because I knew it would take the both of us if we were going to be able to tease her properly, she being the middle kid. But she's the smartest of us by far.
     And tolerated us until we would overstep what she considered the bounds of rational intelligence. Which was frequent. Our greatest victories were driving her to the edge of distraction with our imbecilic questions of "Why?!?" "Why is the sky blue and not sunshine yellow?" "Why don't round objects roll away from the equator?" "Why won't an ant grow the size of an elephant?" "Why is salt square?" "Why? Why?! Why!?!" Not the questions, but not waiting for the answers, which she knew. Or would discover. Even before Google.      What she couldn't understand was why we didn't want to know after we asked, but really it was that we were so far behind her in rational intelligence that there was no hope of ever catching up. Her offers to elevate us into the universe of mathematics were futile. I can't speak for my brother Pete, but it took me three years to pass Calculus with a D.
     A cold, alien universe, so I thought.
     But mathematics has a way of sneaking up and into your life. Through bankbooks and mortgages, music and gardens. Laying tile. Gas mileage. Poetry. Quilting. You'd be surprised. I was surprised, thinking all the while that I was mathematically challenged.
     There we were at Crabby Bill's, enjoying the finest conch fritters on the island. Surrounded by the literary hideouts of Key West. Enjoying simple seafood and family adventure. Discussing things that light our eyes up. Poetry. Tile. Gardens. Mathematics.
     Kari was wearing her trademark purple and lavendar layers that although created from different patterns always magically go together, sporting her hand-sewn Olive Oil boots that she had crafted in a shoe-making class in college, the golden crown of artist shining like a star around her head. I had asked her if she thought that math was beautiful and her eyes burned bright with the passion of her craft.
     Prizes - mathematics - trigonometry - Leonhard Euler - her words teetered on the edge of unintellible, but her voice urged me on, to stretch toward understanding this beauty in math that connects all things, to grasp and hold onto this fine, thin thread.
     And once back home she sent this e-mail, just in case I wasn't listening, just in case the spark didn't flame. Which it did. She'll be happy to know.

From: Kari Wyma-Dominey
To: Kim Wyma-Emert
Subject: beauty in math
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 08:25:18 -0600

Ok- here's a time waster for you. I told you about the winning beautiful formula? First see Wikipedia (try not to get distracted, but make it a favorite- you will love this site)

specifically, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_formula (and yes, when I think about trig, I see a picture like this one of the circle. Then, scroll down and click on Euler's identity, or click here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_identity, a specific example of the general formula. Look at the second version of it where it is rearranged to be equal to zero. This is incredible because it looks so incredibly simple- and it is truly simple, but the amazing and beautiful thing is that it links the 5 fundamental constants (they are not dependent on any particular number system, type of measurements or whatever) 0, 1 pi, e and i.

Scroll to the section titled "perceptions of the identity" and there is a brief but eloquent explanation of what is so special about this, including the fact that all of math's most fundamental operations are involved (equality, addition, multiplication and exponents (subtraction and division are not included here but implied because they are simply inverses of addition and multiplication).)

Finally, for a little fun, go to "Euler and his beautiful and incredible formula": http://agutie.homestead.com/files/Eulerformula.htm

Someday, if you are interested, I'll explain why each of those 5 constants are so amazing- and what it is that you use them for all the time, without even thinking about it.

But in the meantime, I can pass on an annecdote from Miles (her mathematically challenged son)- which irritated him but amused me. His last year in math class, someone asked the teacher why they should learn something and what they were ever going to use it for and he said, "if you don't learn it now, you'll be using it all next year when you take this class again."

Kari

A few months later it was with great pleasure that I added a sampler to our family's collection of Carole Carter quilt miniatures. Carole is one of the finest quilters I have ever known. Her hand is remarkable, her pieces perfect, but most endearing is her humour and sense of curiosity in each of her unique fabric creations.
Fractal is a work I had seen before at several of her shows. We had spoken of why it was she had made it - that mathematics was a world she had always struggled with, but discovered somewhere along the way that its beauty seems to lie in tying all things together, mysteriously, like a fine, thin thread.

That light was shining in Carole's eyes just as it had in my sister's that day and I knew this quilt was meant for Kari, connecting us all with a fine, thin thread.

Carole Carter Quilt Miniatures

Fractal

Flower Garden

Little Red Hen