Halloween Graphs

Link: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/e2twnocksi

Link: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/fa6lz3nsov

Link: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/8dtymfehje

Link: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/figivszz14

Overlapping Shapes

Original graph: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/jvayvgkw1o

Description: A grid of hexagons with dimensions controlled by a slider.

Original graph: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/cuw7dcdvwo
Description: Nine right triangles with midpoints of hypotenuses forming a circle, rotating about the midpoints.

Spoked Hexagons

I've been playing around lately with the art of overlapping shapes. There is much to explore! 

Each of these animations includes an image of a hexagon from Keynote (no fill, white border) repeated to form a grid of hexagons. The spokes at the centers of the hexagons are also images from Keynote.

Animations were created using Giphy Capture, and are based on this Desmos graph.

Desmos Islamic Art

All of these images were made using shapes from Keynote and the Desmos graphing calculator.

Some other favorites. I've called these brick patterns.

Desmos Panda Project

This panda was made in Desmos using a few images of black, white, and pink circles that I made in Keynote. I made lists to set their centers, dimensions, and angles. I also graphed an ellipse for the head and two parametric circles for the mouth. I thought about symmetry a lot while working on this graph.

My elementary aged kids and nephew asked me if I was doing work when I made this (I work at Desmos). I told them I was doing it for fun, and that I thought maybe it would be cool if they worked on a similar project in their math class one day. They all seemed to like the idea and sat around me engaging in a discussion about the math I was using.

Question: What mathematics would students need to know before working on the panda project? 

Note: I am interested in exploring what a Desmos art/animation course would look like for personal reasons, but also I am interested in exploring what it would look like because I'd love to see a course like this offered at the high school or college level as a math elective.

Desmos Animation 101: Image Orientation

Play with this graph. How does each variable change the arrow images?



I made the graph above to explore how the following function controlled the angle of the leaves in Suzanne von Oy's The Tree of All Seasons.

Here's a related challenge: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/3seqxrpsbi
Can you move the leaves to tree 2 and adjust the angle of the leaves so they are facing away from the center of the tree?

Question: What are other uses of this function that people might explore before working on the The Tree of All Seasons problem?

Note: I am interested in exploring what a Desmos art/animation course would look like for personal reasons, but also I am interested in exploring what it would look like because I'd love to see a course like this offered at the high school or college level as a math elective.

Peacock Project

The graph for this image was made in Desmos. This might be a project for a college level course.

A similar project might be used at the high school level course, perhaps without including animations. A sample is here.