Like most people I learned to hate math through the teaching of a bad professor; except luckily he fail.

My dad was my first math teacher and he was awesome. Claiming the walls of dyslexia he though math creatively and with passion so thankfully today I carry his teaching with me.

My memory of those days is being insatiably fascinated by equations. To my eye they look as an expression of life itself: a system of cause and effects defined by a combination of hard code data (known factors) and variables (unknown factors). A system that equally represent one life and a hour of one day. A system that at the end of it can still result to an unknowns X … Pretty irritating yet fascinating is it?

His passion guided me through my experiments with coding (using my Italian high school math and trigonometry with his notes on
it) and now again with Wind Playground. As for the math professor I result into publicly call him an idiot. That lead into all sort of trouble. This is not that story but it is the story of an equation.

To handle the complex variable of Wind Playground assembling system I turned to algebra for help. Now after using this system I’m on a new turning point. I’m confident to say I have found physically and intellectually fun way to teach math.

Before we dive int o this I like to Double Stress that I’m not a mathematician, nor a scholar. Yes I have a master degree but I’m a full on dyslexic being to whom takes me forever to write the kind of essay PHD scholar are required to. I’m however both athlete and a sailor and I learn to understand complex systems of variables through direct physical and metal engaging experience.
My body touches, fells and knows. My mind projects and knows. I understand.

In other words I learn by doing, applying knowledge to a vision, desire or need.
This entire project is in fact dedicated to the power of learning by doing. Its entire team in made of individuals that, guided by passion and love for what they doing they reinvented sailing, design and perfect study or aerodynamics without the permission of a university degree. Working with this people has strength me and I’m grateful to have be part of this team.

Now going back to algebra, let’s look at how algebra help me figure out how to build Wind Playground.

All the Wind Playground pattern need to be stitch together with sawing machine. This was the first obstacle. Wind Playground can get quite large yet If you look at a sewing machine there is only so much space on the right side.

To build and stitch Wind Playground together I came up with a system where the bigger side of the sail will always remain on the left side of the sewing machine and the smaller piece (the new add on pattern) on the right. This is so the all sail can go trough the machine.

To do that I had to think of the assembly order based on a spiral pattern system stating form the center outward. Here the bigger piece is always on the center and the small piece is always on the outside.

To calculate that order I had to rethink the organization of my material allover again. Initially I had organized all my pattern by section, panel number and subsection letter.

Now thought all the panel were number and organized with a unique number by section, my order and assembly system was all off.

I tackle the puzzle again using the panel section codes (in the picture below). while working on the new of assembly system I realize I was actually writing an equation.

This is how it works :

() = First panels to assemble

[ ] = Second panels to assemble

{ } = Third panels to assemble

R = Variable R (reinforcements) which need is assembled and attached to the panel and on top of which the connectors to ether the
masts or the ground anchors are applied.

Wind Playgrund Assembely Line System from Maia Anthea Marinelli on Vimeo.

Here is a example

Here is an example of the reinforcements

So in other words this

“the equation in full “

is equal to Wind Playground.

Now what if I reverse engineering this process and create a puzzle like kit that I can use in school to tech math to kids.
What if I can actually teach kids how math relates to out physical environment by doing and build things just like I did with Wind Playground.

Well it look like I found my next challenge.