Sierpinski Tetrahedron
7th May 2015
Chris Hill, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at St. Bonaventure University has been overseeing a project over the past several months; groups of middle school students from the Allegany-Limestone, Hinsdale, Olean, and Portville school districts in western New York have been working to build a stage-6 Sierpinski tetrahedron using Zometool.In each district, a group of about 15 students have been guided by their teachers to build a stage-5 Sierpinski tetrahedron. On Thursday, May 7, the students from the four districts will come together on a stage in the Quick Center for the Arts on the SBU campus and connect the four stage-5s to complete the stage-6 structure. The final structure will contain 32,770 parts and stand about 13 feet tall; the structure is so big that several adults can stand inside it!
They call the endeavor "The Connect 4 Project," because the four districts involved are those in the Connect 4 Program (which facilitates the sharing of resources among the four districts) and because the structures made by the students in the four districts will be literally connected to complete the final structure. The Connect 4 Project has been generously funded by CABOCES (the Boards of Cooperative Educational Services for Cattaraugus, Allegany, Erie, and Wyoming counties in southwestern New York State).
UPDATE:
Chris put together this wonderful page detailing many aspects of the project and including a wonderful video of the final moments of construction, check it out: