Origami for IB Extended Essay

[Xerxes]

Hello all,

I'm a Gr. 11 student currently enrolled in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, and I'm thinking of writing my Extended Essay (4000-word academic research paper on a topic of the student's choice) on the mathematics behind origami- specifically on the binary folding algorithm, which I got from http://www.langorigami.com/science/math ... ctions.pdf. My idea is that I'm going to take a circle-packed model with irrational reference points (I will calculate the exact reference points mathematically), and calculate how many creases will be needed in order to fold the crease pattern of the model using the binary folding algorithm. I have a few questions to ask regarding the essay and I would be very grateful for responses:

1. This question is more for the forum users who have gone through IB, but is this a suitable topic/question for my Extended Essay?
2. What circle-packed models are out there with known flap lengths (excluding box-pleated models or models that are too simple in design to be researched) to be used for reference when calculating the reference points?

Thanks

[HankSimon]

I don't know the answers to your questions, but your topic sounds interesting. I'm not sure if Lang addressed something that you might write about in his book, Origami Design Secrets. I am sure that your paper will be more interesting, if you include the crease pattern, analyze it, and also include a real creased piece of paper, as well as a folded model to demonstrate some concreteness in the theory. If you have the time, it might be nice to write a few paragraphs that discuss an application, unrelated to Origami.

You might try to contact Dr. Robert Lang, Dr. Jeannine Moseley, and Dr. Erik Demaine to ask them about these ideas. They are very nice and very helpful when they have the time ... but they rarely have the time. So be respectful, complete, and concise, if you contact them, and assume that if they don't contact you by the end of January, that they just don't have the time to help. I don't have contact information, but with a little searching, you can find a way to contact them.

After you complete the paper, please post a copy, along with pertinent photos. Good Luck!

[Bass]

Former IB student here. The diploma won't give you any edge in the college search by the way, my cousins and I didn't really get any advantage over others in that IB is too new to the US for most of the universities to give it any weight. Unrelated, but just my 2 cents on the issue after all of that work.

You're going too narrow here. You need to broaden your thesis. Origami isn't understood all that well by the mainstream academia. We have a few experts in the field, sure, but if you're going into applications of origami then you need to keep it accessible to anyone who is going to read/grade/review your essay. Unless you know who is going to grade it and whether or not they would understand where you're going, I would keep a bit more general in your research.

So what do you research then? I wrote about origami extensively during my college career, and I find that the history is the most fascinating part of origami to a general audience. The fact that only through developing a language of symbols did origami spread so fast grabs a sophisticated audience quite quickly. There are a lot of sources out there, hard to find albeit, but the linguistics point of view is interesting as well as how it grew from the 70's on into an art as well as a science. You can cover all of the applications of origami as opposed to just math. Back up your claims with real evidence such as the artificial heart valve as well as the basic principles of the air bag and the satellite. That should fill up 4,000 words quite easily.

And as a former IB student, please enjoy your high school time, don't take it too seriously. It isn't the end of the world if you get a B, that's what IB is trying to do. The only disadvantage there is that a university will compare your lower grades to a non-IB student's higher grades, and will 9/10 times pick that non-IB student. I don't mean to sound spiteful, but a good few of my friends didn't get into the universities IB seemingly promised. Good luck.

[roodborst]

The hearth valve, airbag and sattelite are based on origami? Please explain! Can't offer any help on the thesis I'm afraid...

[HankSimon]

I like Bass's comments, here are some additions to those:
1. A language of symbols, from a linguistics perspective would include a structure and a grammar.
2. Airbag: Use Origami for efficient folding and packing that can be deployed rapidly.
3. Satellite: Use Origami for efficient folding and unpacking of the solar collector.
4. Heart Valve: Patented- A method of folding a stented heart valve
5. Protein Folding: Apply the Origami theories of folding to understanding how Proteins can fold up in biochemical interactions.

Check out Robert Lang for discussions of Origami Applications. I think you can Google these applications for LOTS more detail.

[Xerxes]

So what do you research then? I wrote about origami extensively during my college career, and I find that the history is the most fascinating part of origami to a general audience. The fact that only through developing a language of symbols did origami spread so fast grabs a sophisticated audience quite quickly. There are a lot of sources out there, hard to find albeit, but the linguistics point of view is interesting as well as how it grew from the 70's on into an art as well as a science. You can cover all of the applications of origami as opposed to just math. Back up your claims with real evidence such as the artificial heart valve as well as the basic principles of the air bag and the satellite. That should fill up 4,000 words quite easily.

Thank you for the comments, Bass! However, I was planning on writing a math paper to begin with so I'm not quite sure (although the topics you brought up sounds very interesting and I can probably write about them) about switching to origami history/linguistics with only a month left before my first draft is due...

[Razzmatazz]

Unless you do original research or expand beyond the binary folding algorithm you will not have enough research to write a 4000 word essay. I recently did a research paper on the use of origami to teach geometry to elementary school students in Ontario for a class and using whole two sections of 5OSME and 4OSME, only got around 3000 words.
The point is that only a few people have written on this topic and your paper will not look so flashy having 3 or 4 references. Unless you have by far done original research.
Do also note that your paper will require many figures, so I hope you have set out a lot of time for yourself.

About possible topics that you can expand to--well you said you don't have much time before your rough draft is due, so you can't exactly change so drastically. Perhaps you could expand to the general division of an angle or line. Unless that was what you were planning on doing?