Joseph O'Rourke

"What do proteins and pop-up cards have in common? How is opening a grocery bag different from opening a gift box? How can you cut out the letters for a whole word all at once with one straight scissors cut? How many ways are there to flatten a cube? With the help of 200 colour figures, author Joseph O'Rourke explains these fascinating folding problems starting from high school algebra and geometry and introducing more advanced concepts in tangible contexts as they arise. He shows how variations on these basic problems lead directly to the frontiers of current mathematical research and offers ten accessible unsolved problems for the enterprising reader. Before tackling these, you can test your skills on fifty exercises with complete solutions. The book's website, has dynamic animations of many of the foldings and downloadable templates for readers to fold or cut out"--Provided by publisher.

Over the past decade or so, researchers and professionals in discrete geometry and the newer field of computational geometry have developed a highly productive collaborative relationship, where each area benefits from the methods and insights of the other. At the same time that discrete and computational geometry are becoming more closely identified, applications of the results of this work are being used in an increasing number of widely differing areas, from computer graphics and linear programming to manufacturing and robotics. The editors and authors, all respected experts in their fields, have answered the need for a comprehensive handbook for professionals in these and related fields, and for other users of the body of results. The Handbook of Discrete and Computational Geometry brings together, for the first time, all of the major results in both these fields into one volume.