Comments on: Ambigrams

By: Dave Richeson

Dave Richeson — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:28:53 +0000

Gene, I think I spent several hours making these. The Pie≠3.14 ambigram (inversion) took about 10 minutes (although that one is crude and was made to work). I think you're right about the history. According to wikidpedia Kim used the term inversion in 1981 and Douglas Hofstadter was the first to use the word ambigram, which he says dates back to 1983-4.

By: Gene Chase

Gene Chase — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:04:29 +0000

How long do the ambigrams take to generate by hand? I tried just 2 of my students in Spring 2008, and spent the better part of an hour on each. One reflectional read MattBachmann with the nn becoming the capital M, for example.

One more question. I thought that Scott Kim coined the word “inversion” before the word “ambigram” was coined. Am I right? If so, I think we should honor the master.

By: Pi ambigram « Division by Zero

Pi ambigram « Division by Zero — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:58:15 +0000

[...] pie and 3.14 are mirror images, if written in a certain way. Regular readers may recall that I had fun creating ambigrams a few months ago. This blog comment inspired me to whip up a quick ambigram exhibiting this [...]

By: Symmetry groups of viral doilies « Division by Zero

Symmetry groups of viral doilies « Division by Zero — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:36:35 +0000

[...] symmetries? Tired of the usual regular polygons and corporate logos. Already shown your class ambigrams? Feeling pressured to inject biology into your mathematics courses? Look no [...]

By: Ξ

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:59:47 +0000

Really neat post! As you can see, I totally stole, uhhh, pointed people in your direction. [I also apparently was incapable of spelling ambigram correctly, though I did go back and try to fix that two seconds after I posted].

(When I was reading Angels and Demons I got to the point where the guy found the inversion and talked about how everyone thought that was impossible to do, and I was so upset at that incorrect information that I was unable to read any further. TwoPi said the book got better after that, though.)

By: Inversions « 360

Inversions « 360 — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 21:19:35 +0000

[...] By Ξ Dave Richeson over at Division by Zero has a post today about amibigrams. Amibrams, also known as inversions, are words that have some sort of [...]

By: Dave Richeson

Dave Richeson — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:50:53 +0000

Thanks for the tip! Those are great.

By: Theo

Theo — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 05:16:13 +0000

You should also check out the work of Scott Kim. In particular, I highly recommend his book Inversions.