Images for mathematics
The idea behind Images for Mathematics is to make this collection of images and animations available by creating a tool to communicate mathematics ideas. The tool is designed to be user-friendly while still ensuring a high level of scientific correctness alongside top quality relevant images.
In today's society the key role played by communication through images is universally recognized. However, there are still many areas in which the potential of this type of communication is not exploited to the full, or rather than highlighting the scientific content, the images get overpowered by special effects. What is needed for those who operate in the field of communication is to have tools that provide the right balance between contents and images.
The Center Matematita is an inter-university research center for communication and informal learning in mathematics. The Center is particularly interested in this problem since communication through images is by nature not only an informal way for imparting information but also for learning it.
Right from its founding, the Center has had a vast collection of images (several thousand) and animations (several hundred) that originated from materials gathered for exhibitions and for publications.
The archive is continually evolving and can be consulted online.
Via the menu, visitors can find a presentation of the project; guided tours of the various sections of the archive (we suggest looking at these pages before doing any browsing); further information on the mathematical background, interactive animations; suggestions for paths on various topics and addressed to different types of users. Users can build their own paths through the pages in browse the catalog.
The archive is designed to support three languages: Italian, English and Portuguese (thanks to the collaboration with the Portuguese association Atractor). It could potentially be extended to other languages as well. Since the archive is being continually updated, sometimes the images may not have captions in all three languages. If the page relating to an individual image does not contain any text, please consult the Italian version.
