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Möbius strip | by Xichen Sheng | Medium

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Xichen Sheng Feb 21, 2017 · 4 min read

Möbius strip

The Möbius strip has several curious properties. A line drawn starting from the seam
down the middle meets back at the seam but at the other side. If continued the line
meets the starting point, and is double the length of the original strip. This single
continuous curve demonstrates that the Möbius strip has only one boundary.

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04/02/2021 1963. Möbius strip | by Xichen Sheng | Medium

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The Möbius strip has the mathematical property of being non-orientable. It can be
realized as a ruled surface. It was discovered independently by the German
mathematicians August Ferdinand Möbius and Johann Benedict Listing in 1858.

Many mathematical concepts are named after him, including the Möbius plane, the
Möbius transformations, important in projective geometry, and the Möbius transform of
number theory. His interest in number theory led to the important Möbius function μ(n)
and the Möbius inversion formula. In Euclidean geometry, he systematically developed
the use of signed angles and line segments as a way of simplifying and unifying results.

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04/02/2021 1963. Möbius strip | by Xichen Sheng | Medium

The Möbius strip is a surface with only one side and only one boundary. The Möbius
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strip has the mathematical property of being non-oriented. It can be realized as a ruled
surface. It was discovered independently by the German mathematicians August
Ferdinand Möbius and Johann Benedict Listing in 1858. The strip was immortalized by
M.C. Escher (1898–1972).

Escher was once quoted as saying: “In 1960 I was exhorted by an English mathematician
(whose name I do not call to mind) to make a print of a Möbius strip. At that time I
scarcely knew what it was”.1 He responded to this challenge by producing two images
that became famous: Möbius Strip I and Möbius Strip II. In the first of these woodcuts,
which seems to depict three snakes biting each others’ tails, Escher invites us to follow
the line of the snakes. What we discover, to our surprise, is that the three reptiles are all
on the same surface. Even though they appear to be following two distinct orbits.

In the second woodcut, Möbius Strip II, we see nine ants all crawling in the same
direction. This time Escher asks us to follow their path and confirm that it is indeed a
path without end, because no matter which starting point you choose, you always end
up at the same point. The ants appear to be crawling on two separate sides of a single
surface, but ultimately each of them travels the entire length of the surface on which
they are crawling. In both these images the paths are endless.

Endless Ribbon by Max Bill (1953, original 1935), granite, Baltimore Museum of Art.

Swiss artist Max Bill (1908–1994) was a pioneer in sculpting Möbius strips. Starting in
the 1930s, he created a variety of “endless ribbons” out of paper, metal, granite, and
other materials. When Bill first made a Möbius strip, in 1935 in Zurich, he thought he
had invented a completely new shape.
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04/02/2021 1963. Möbius strip | by Xichen Sheng | Medium

The artist had been invited to craft a piece of sculpture to hang above a fireplace in
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which everything was to be electric. The idea was to add some sort of dynamic element
to increase the attractiveness of an electric fireplace that would need to glow without a
mesmerizing dance of flames.

One possibility was a sculpture that would rotate from the upward flow of hot air. Bill’s
design experiments included twisting paper strips into different configurations.

Over the years, Bill nonetheless became a strong advocate of using mathematics as a
framework for art. As a sculptor, Bill firmly believed that geometry is the principal
mechanism by which we try to understand our physical surroundings and learn to
appraise relations and interactions between objects in space.

Mathematical art is best defined as “the building up of significant patterns from ever-
changing relations, rhythms, and proportions of abstract forms, each one of which,
having its own causality, is tantamount to a law unto itself,” he insisted.

References
1. Clifford A. Pickover (March 2005). The Möbius Strip : Dr. August Möbius’s Marvelous
Band in Mathematics, Games, Literature, Art, Technology, and Cosmology. Thunder’s
Mouth Press. ISBN 1–56025–826–8.

2. Curves and Surfaces for Computer Aided Geometric Design: A Practical Guide
Fourth Edition, Gerald Farin, September 1996.

3. Manfredo P. do Carmo, Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces, 1976

Mathematics Mobius Surface 1961 1965

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