Binary Bonsai
Materials and Methods: Knitted and Crocheted yarn
Designer: Madeline Shepherd
Artists: AZLY (Amsterdam), Kicki Frisch (London), Ingalilsusa (Hamburg), Carmen Moran (Edinburgh), and Madeline Shepherd (Edinburg)
This nine piece selection from Botanica Mathematica, a collaborative project with Julia Collins, consists of Binary Trees knitted and crocheted by volunteers around the world, some identified only by Ravelry usernames, using a binary bonsai pattern by Madeline Shepherd. This selection includes:
(1) a foot-tall depth-first search knitted by Kicki Frisch,
(2) a foot-tall breadth-first search knitted by Kicki Frisch,
(3) a six-inch crocheted bonsai by Madeline Shepherd,
(4) a six-inch knitted, ribbed bonsai by Madeline Shepherd,
(5) an eight-inch knitted stockinette bonsai by Madeline Shepherd,
(6) a six-inch trinary ``mutant" knitted by Madeline Shepherd,
(7) a ten-inch crocheted tree by Carmen Moran,
(8) a six-inch knitted tree by Ravelry user AZLY, and
(9) a beaded five-inch mini-tree by Ravelry user Ingalilsusa.
Binary bonsai provide a rich foundation for mathematical discussion of powers of 2, extending the pattern to bigger trees, exponential growth, repeated bifurcation, and fractals. Frisch has colored each branching level of the binary tree search algorithms to highlight this aspect of tree form. Others have determined how to craft a trinary tree and have discussed the impracticality of branching in fours.
Once the collection grows large enough, Shepherd and Collins will engage in taxonomic analysis. The project website is
www.botanicamathematica.wordpress.com. If you are interested in contributing, please visit the website.