Octacube, Steel sculpture at McAllister Building, Pennsylvania State University, United States.
The Octacube is a stainless steel sculpture measuring 6 feet across, displayed on a granite base in the Mathematics Department lobby at Pennsylvania State University. Its structure contains 24 vertices, 96 edges, and 96 triangular faces arranged to show how a four-dimensional shape might appear in three-dimensional space.
The sculpture was dedicated in October 2005 as a memorial to Kermit Anderson, a member of the mathematical community who died in the September 11 attacks. The work honors his memory while creating a lasting symbol in an academic setting.
The sculpture sits in the Mathematics Department lobby where students and visitors encounter abstract geometry made tangible. It brings together mathematics and art in a space where people naturally pause to study its symmetrical form.
The sculpture is located in a publicly accessible building on campus and can be viewed at any time. Head to the Mathematics Department lobby to find it displayed at ground level where it is easy to approach.
The sculpture employs a special projection technique to represent the properties of a four-dimensional mathematical shape in three-dimensional reality. This method makes abstract higher mathematics concepts visible and tangible to viewers.
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