average spatial: 8.6 cm x 21.1 cm x 16.9 cm; 3 3/8 in x 8 5/16 in x 6 21/32 in
Object Name:
geometric model
Date made:
ca 1906-1935
Description:
This model was made by Richard P. Baker in the early twentieth century when he was on the faculty in mathematics at the University of Iowa. It consists of twelve intersecting wire line segments. Six segments are painted black, one green), three red, and two silver. A typed paper tag taped so that it goes around one edge reads: No. 236 (/) Complex from five lines.
Baker classified the model among those he designed to illustrate theorems in projective geometry, specifically "a complex determined from five lines by ruler only."
This example of the model was displayed at MIT from 1939, before its donation to the Smithsonian in 1956.
References:
Baker, R.P., <I>Mathematical Models</I>, Iowa City, 1931, p. 14.
