Math with Bad DrawingsCartoon Archive

Flags of Mathematical Nations

February 22, 2017Original blog post

Six flags of imaginary mathematical countries: Fractalstan, the Möbius republic, the Four-Color Confederation, Tesseractia, Königsberg and Trigonomia.

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Free for classrooms, worksheets, slides and other non-commercial use under CC BY-NC 4.0, with credit to Ben Orlin.

Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2017-02-22-flags-of-mathematical-nations/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Transcript

[1] Fractalstan [a flag whose canton contains a smaller copy of the flag] "You must need really deft fingers to sew these." "Or fingers of noninteger dimension."

[2] The People's Republic of Möbius [a Möbius-strip flag] Crowd: "One nation! One side! One nation! One side!"

[3] The Four-Color Confederation [a map-like flag in four colors] "I understand your country has four major political parties?" "Yes — none of which ever manages to govern two neighboring provinces!"

[4] The Hyper-Republic of Tesseractia [a tesseract flag] "Why does your flag keep vanishing and reappearing?" "Oh, it's just fluttering in the four-dimensional wind."

[5] The Independent State of Königsberg [flag: the Königsberg bridges graph] "Infrastructure spending? Can we afford this?" "With all due respect, Senator, our system of bridges needs an overhaul."

[6] Trigonomia [a right-triangle flag labeled opposite, adjacent, hypotenuse] Singing: "Oh SOHCAHTOA, by the dawn's early light…"

Topics
Geometry › FractalsAdvanced Math › Topology › Möbius StripDiscrete Math › Graph Theory › Four Color TheoremGeometry › Higher Dimensions › TesseractDiscrete Math › Graph Theory › Königsberg BridgesTrigonometry › SOHCAHTOAMathematicians & Scientists › Leonhard EulerMathematicians & Scientists › August Möbius
Level
Middle SchoolHigh School
Themes
PoliticsHistory & HolidaysPunsVisual Explanations
People
Leonhard Euler August Möbius