“I got this tattoo, which encircles my left wrist, in 2000. The tat is described by this function(1/n)*sin(nx) with n from 1 to 6. I had done a lot of work with fourier transforms on the research project I was involved in as an undergrad physics student, and just find the entire concept very beautiful. At the time that I got the tat, I was a master’s student in materials science and was taking a class on fourier optics. As music also plays a very large role in my life, the image/concept has a double meaning for me. As an added ‘feature’, the artist made a small mistake on the inside of my wrist (the n=4 line disappears for a bit). This really bugged me at first until I decided it was a good metaphor for how the messy reality of life is never perfectly represented by our mathematical theories.”
–Andrea Grant (now a climatology PhD student in Switzerland, where nerdy tattoos are still pretty shocking….)
Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.
Originally published February 17, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.