Abstract / Synopsis
The emphasis on traditional hand-drawn compass and straight-edge geometrical constructions has been reduced in the core narrative of most current curricula. In response to this trend, this paper presents a virtual toolkit for producing precision geometrical figures within the popular note-taking app, Notability. These graphical procedures employ the app's stylus-based input and shape tools (for lines, circles and squares) to offer a modern take on classical geometrical construction. These procedures are adaptations of familiar textbook methods, necessary because the app's circle-drawing tool behaves differently from a standard compass. Beyond the familiar canon of elementary Euclidean constructions, such as angle bisectors and perpendiculars, these tools are also used to sketch examples of sangaku diagrams from original 19th-century Japanese temple geometry problems. That such precision figures can be created within a popular tablet app is a rallying call to geometers; the art and craft of traditional manual constructions need not go extinct and can continue to be nurtured in this age of digital paper.
DOI
10.5642/jhummath.KGSA6681
Recommended Citation
Deborah A. Kent & David J. Muraki, "The Modern Geometrician: Euclidean Construction for Digital Paper," Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume 14 Issue 2 (July 2024), pages 107-126. DOI: 10.5642/jhummath.KGSA6681. Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol14/iss2/6
