Or they just look fancy and that's why it was put there ?
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asked Apr 14, 2014 at 20:25
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$\begingroup$ Because it looks so ..cute? $\endgroup$– imranfatCommented Apr 14, 2014 at 20:30
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5$\begingroup$ For an excellent mathematical logo, see here. $\endgroup$– Andrés E. CaicedoCommented Apr 14, 2014 at 20:33
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$\begingroup$ Can you understand its perspective? Or you got dizzy? $\endgroup$– SigurCommented Apr 14, 2014 at 20:33
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2$\begingroup$ No longer red :P $\endgroup$– user2345215Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 20:38
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1$\begingroup$ It looks good, I am not denying that. I can see where it's coming from. Just thought, there might be something more to it, like the symbol for AIM. $\endgroup$– The very fluffy PandaCommented Apr 14, 2014 at 20:41
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13$\begingroup$ See the thread the design of the MSE theme. $\endgroup$– Bill DubuqueCommented Apr 14, 2014 at 21:03
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$\begingroup$ Oh I see. So that's what Sigur meant by perspective. Clever! $\endgroup$– The very fluffy PandaCommented Apr 14, 2014 at 21:07
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$\begingroup$ A very similar older question: meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/10128/… (But perhaps not a duplicate, since the older question also asked for suggestions of a new logo.) $\endgroup$– Martin SleziakCommented Apr 15, 2014 at 6:48
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7$\begingroup$ There's a star in the negative space of the logo. $\endgroup$– Oscar CunninghamCommented Apr 15, 2014 at 9:08
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$\begingroup$ What a disgrace to have a mathematical inconsistency as our logo! $\endgroup$– TROLLHUNTERCommented Oct 1, 2016 at 16:00
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2 Answers
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As Jin describes it in the original Design Ideas for Mathematics Site post, it's a Penrose triangle made of cubes, with the corner cubes removed:
The absence of the corner cubes makes the "impossible object" illusion somewhat less striking (in fact, I'm not even 100% sure that it's still impossible to construct out of actual cubes), but if you look closely, you can still tell that each cube overlaps the next one counterclockwise from it, such that the cubes cannot be strictly ordered by depth.
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3$\begingroup$ And like the original Penrose triangle, if we interpret the depth cues as intended, then the diagram "depicts a nontrivial element of the first cohomology of an annulus with values in the group of distances from the observer", to steal a phrase from Wikipedia. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 0:59
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1$\begingroup$ @ChrisCulter Well that just went right over my head. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 1:40
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6$\begingroup$ @PandaBear Penrose's article "On the Cohomology of Impossible Figures" explains it nicely! Try jstor.org/stable/1575844 or iri.upc.edu/people/ros/StructuralTopology/ST17/st17.html $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 1:51
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$\begingroup$ It is actually possible to construct it. (Except the overlaps) Look at it caarefully. I will post a photograph if I get time to make it. $\endgroup$– KartikCommented Apr 17, 2014 at 14:36
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11$\begingroup$ @Kartik: Well, yes, the overlaps are the hard part; if you ignore them, it's trivial. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 14:42
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It is a type of optical illusion.If viewed from 2-d sense,it is a hexagon bounded by the cubes.But the real fun lies when the figure is viewed from 3-d perspective.If viewed attentively,one can see the cubes are buldging out but becomes confused how they are arranged;either left or right.Sometimes they can be seen arranged in a plane vertical to the base & sometimes they are seeing lying in the base.Just watch it!