Daina Taimiņa

Daina Taimiņa is a Latvian mathematician and educator known for crocheting physical models of hyperbolic geometry. Her models make the geometry’s curved surfaces tangible.

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Hyperbolic geometry: A geometry in which parallel lines through a point are not unique and triangles have angle sums below 180 degrees. The geometry Taimiņa’s crocheted models make visible through expanding curved surfaces.
Euclidean geometry: The geometry of flat space described by Euclid, where parallel lines through a point are unique. Its familiar parallel-line rule contrasts with the geometry Taimiņa’s models illustrate.
David Henderson: An American geometer and mathematics educator who coauthored work on crocheted models of hyperbolic space with Daina Taimiņa. Their collaboration connected her constructions with mathematical exposition and teaching.
Mathematics education: The teaching and learning of mathematical ideas, skills, and practices. Taimiņa’s models offer a concrete approach to teaching a geometry difficult to visualize on paper.
Crochet: A textile craft that uses a hooked needle to interlock loops of yarn. Taimiņa used crochet to build flexible physical representations of hyperbolic surfaces.
Gaussian curvature: A measure of intrinsic curvature at a surface point, defined by the product of its principal curvatures. Negative Gaussian curvature is the local geometric feature represented by her crocheted surfaces.
William Thurston: An American mathematician whose work transformed the study of low-dimensional topology and geometry. Thurston’s hyperbolic geometry course inspired Taimiņa to construct crocheted models.
Mathematics and art: The study and practice of connections between mathematical structures and artistic forms. Her textile surfaces combine mathematical structure with craft and visual design.
Doughnut model of the hyperbolic plane: A crocheted surface model that represents a finite region of the hyperbolic plane. This recognizable model shows how repeated increases in stitches create negative curvature.
Pseudosphere: A surface of constant negative curvature that models part of the hyperbolic plane. It is a classical surface model related to the geometry made tangible by crochet.