These Typefaces Are Tiny Math Puzzles Made by MIT Scientists

When quickly sending an email, creating a company logo, or writing a post about mathematical typefaces, hundreds of thousands of fonts exist to help express a specific mood or feeling though we rarely escape the realm of a well-known few. Although it's well-documented that creating fonts can be an art, two mathematicians show that it can also be a science.

But these collection of letters aren't your typical typefaces, they're really small puzzles themselves. During the past decade, father-son duo Erik and Martin Demaine, both mathematicians at MIT, designed five typefaces based on theorems and computational geometry. These fonts stand as fun examples of five distinct topics in math and science, which are "hinged dissections, geometric tours, origami design, physical simulation, and protein folding," according to their recent research paper (that is a pretty fun read).

The duo describes their creations as "mathematical typefaces" and "algorithmic typefaces." The idea is that the very process of decoding what the letters exemplify the math and science they're trying to explain. Their first font in developed in 2003 examines hinged dissections, a theory recently proven (by the Demaines in 2008) that says any polygon with equal area can transform into different shapes while remaining connected through hinged points.

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