Using Works of Visual Art to Teach Matrix Transformations

James Luke Akridge, Western Kentucky University
Rachel Bowman, Western Kentucky University
Peter Hamburger, Western Kentucky University
Bruce Kessler, Western Kentucky University

Abstract

The authors present a modern technique for teaching matrix transformations on $\R^2$ that incorporates works of visual art and computer programming. Two of the authors were undergraduate students in Dr. Hamburger's linear algebra class, where this technique was implemented as a special project for the students. The two students generated the images seen in this paper, and the movies that can be found on the accompanying webpage www.wku.edu/\~bruce.kessler/.