Algebraic surfaces for innovative education integrated in batik art

Hanna Arini Parhusip

Citation: AIP Conference Proceedings 2021, 060017 (2018); doi: 10.1063/1.5062781

View online: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5062781
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/apc/2021/1
Published by the American Institute of Physics
 Algebraic Surfaces for Innovative Education Integrated in
Batik Art

Hanna Arini Parhusip1,a)

1
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, UKSW, Salatiga, Indonesia
a)
Corresponding author: hanna.arini@staff.uksw.edu

Abstract. Barth Sextic surfaces as algebraic surfaces are recalled and developed into textile motifs. Since studies on
these surfaces are not well known in Indonesia, a general idea of algebraic surfaces is introduced. A plane is discussed to
represent the idea of singularity for students in schools where differentiability is employed to the equation of a plane. The
equation of the Barth Sextic surfaces is then revisited to realize the singularities of these surfaces. Due to the existing
parameters in the equation, some innovations are done by varying the values of parameters, modifying the known
surfaces, which is a novelty of this paper. These surfaces are copied into textiles and colored as batik motifs. Students
from middle schools are invited to test this approach for innovative education.

Keywords: Algebraic, batik, textile pattern.

INTRODUCTION
Developing mathematics into different presentations for different kinds of topics has been introduced in the last
five years in SatyaWacana Christian University (SWCU) Indonesia. Visualization and exhibition are dominating the
activities for schools and undergraduate students, e.g., parametric curves mapped by complex functions have been
transformed into mathematical ornaments.1,2 By carrying this approach to society, many kinds of materials are
improved to invite the public to have a good perception in mathematics.
The activity is continued by introducing algebraic surfaces through Surfer. In Jun 10–16, 2017, this software was
used by students from middle schools in Indonesia for learning mathematics and implementing batik motifs. Gender
issues due to the batik motifs is also considered.3 As an Indonesian heritage, batik has been considered to be an
aspect of public diplomacy in ASEAN.4 This is particularly in accordance with the establishment of the ASEAN
Economic Community, considered by the Indonesian government as an opportunity to introduce and improve the
economic benefits to the country, through the exports of batik to ASEAN countries. Inspired by the motifs of batik,
a creative dance has been performed.5 Considering that batik has sustainably existed in societies nationally and
internationally, batik is then used to introduce algebraic surfaces. A quadratic surface has been an example
employed in the motifs of batik.6 In this paper, another surface is used, constituting the novelty of this research.
Unfortunately, students do not have a good background in algebraic surfaces. Therefore, an introduction to
algebraic surfaces for middle schools must be delivered in a special manner such that students are willing to learn
and enjoy the innovative part, i.e., painting the algebraic surface on a textile, fostering mathematical understanding,
and increasing their confidence in mathematics. Thus, mathematics is introduced in a different style than usual, e.g.,
by providing an environment where students feel comfortable to collaborate, share, explore, and think
mathematically. Finally, substantial research may develop, students may improve their self-confidence, have

The 8th Annual Basic Science International Conference

AIP Conf. Proc. 2021, 060017-1–060017-8; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5062781
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1739-7/$30.00

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feelings of unity and improved satisfaction.6 One example is presented here by introducing the Barth Sextic surface
into the design of a textile called batik. Before the activity is shown, the basics of the Barth Sextic are reviewed.

Learning surfaces for schools initiated from a plane with its equation and a singularity
Very often students in middle schools cannot formulate the mathematical expressions of mathematical objects.
Instead, they may know triangles, circles, rectangles and many other regular polygons in geometrical studies.
However, those such as plane geometries are rarely noted. On the other hand, there are infinitely many objects
around students governed by plane geometries. As one way of handling a mathematical sense for generalization,
educators should start from real objects, then come to a general interpretation of surrounding objects geometrically.
Suppose that students are given a piece of paper and asked to define its geometrical formula. Most students will
not generally understand the mathematical expression for a piece of paper. Similar objects can also be introduced,
such as the surface of a flat door, a window, the flat of a television screen, the flat of a textile with no curves, and
many more. Students are encouraged to define one mathematical word for all those examples, leading to a plane.
Hence students have the general expression for a plane provided by educators, i.e.,

f(x,y,z) = ax +by +cz +d = 0. (1)

Note that the previous generalization for a line on (x,y)-plane must have been known, i.e., ax+by+c = 0.
Similarly, one may have ax + bz + c = 0 and ay +bz + c = 0 as the general expressions for a line in the (x,z)-plane
and in the (y,z)-plane, respectively. These coordinate systems on these planes should also be introduced to have real
recognition of planes in real life, such as how the walls of a room can be a direct example of these planes where the
positive axes are in the same space where the students exist. A plane has other geometric phenomena, e.g., that it has
no singularity (if it is smooth). It is hard to describe this word in a school where English is not the usual language. A
singular point on a line is described by the existence of a jump on a point on that line. A cusp on a curve may also be
introduced as the existence of a singular point. This may be extended to the idea of a singularity on a surface.
At a higher level of education, e.g., high school, the derivative operator may be introduced. Since Eq. (1) has
several variables, partial derivatives may be presented for a more geometric study of any plane governed by Eq. (1).
Applying the derivative operator to Eq. (1), one introduces wf a , wf b , and wf c . In high school, students
wx wy wz
should learn the geometrical meaning of the operator df for a single variable function, where df 0 expresses that
dx dx
the function has a horizontal tangent line (parallel with the first axis) at this location, and that this location is a
candidate for maximizing or minimizing the function. Additionally, the z variable can be considered to be a
linear/flat function of (x,y) by setting f = 0 in Eq. (1). Thus, it is understood finally that the existence of singular
behavior of a surface is defined by the zeros of the function and its partial derivatives. In the case of Eq. (1), we
have
wf wf wf
a 0, b 0, c 0 , and f(x,y,z) = 0 yielding d = 0.
wx wy wz
Hence, we have no plane due to all the parameters being zero in Eq. (1), leading to there being no singular
points. One concludes that a plane has no singularity. In real life, the existence of a singularity is governed by a
jump at a point of the plane. The form of Eq. (1) is that of a polynomial in (x,y,z) with highest degree 1. In other
words, a plane is called a surface of degree 1 with no singularity. It is denoted frequently by P (1) = 0. The study is
then improved by learning the degrees of other solids governed by planes, such as the Platonic solids.

Singularities on Barth Sextic Surfaces for Batik Art

In a simple description, an algebraic surface is the set of all zeros of a polynomial of degree d in three variables,
i.e., f(x,y,z) = 0. The surfaces may be smooth or contain singularities, where the singularity of a surface is a point for
which both the polynomial defining the surface and its partial derivatives are zero, i.e.,
. f(x,y,z) = 0, (2a)

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 &
’f 0. (2b)
Obviously, the solutions of Eq. (2a) and Eq. (2b) can be more than one point. An obvious surface such as a plane
has no singularity, which is written as P (1) 0 . In general form, μ(d) means the maximum possible number of
singularities on a surface of degree d. In this paper, a six degrees surface is exposited, called the Barth sextic
surface, which will be included in motifs of batik as a traditional heritage of Indonesia. Compared to the existing
batik motifs using mathematics, algebraic surfaces have never been used for creating batik motifs, although fractals
and Mandelbrot geometries are much better known.7,8 Thus the novelty here is the new integration with the local
culture stemming from the use of modern technology, such as Surfer, which is also used for innovative education
through research based on this topic.
Algebraic surfaces of the sixth degree are called sextic surfaces. One of them is a world record surface. In 1994,
Barth defined a special sextic surface, now called the Barth Sextic, which has 65 ordinary double points, i.e., points
of intersection of the surface with different tangent planes. These singular points are determined by solving Eq. (2a)
and Eq. (2b) where the surface is defined implicitly, i.e.,

   
4 M 2 x 2  y 2 M 2 y 2  z 2 M 2 z 2  x 2  1  2M  x 2  y 2  z 2  w 2 w 2  2
0 (3)

where M is the golden ratio and w is a parameter. There is a representation of Eq. (3) by homogeneous coordinates,
which is not discussed here. Eq. (3) is a special case of Eq. (2.a). Hence we need to define Eq. (2.b) explicitly:

wf
wx
   
8 xM 2 M 2 y 2  z 2 M 2 z 2  x 2  8 x M 2 x 2  y 2 M 2 y 2  z 2  

 4 x1  2M  x 2  y 2  z 2  w 2 w 2 0 
(4)
wf
wy

8 y M z  x
2 2 2
M 2
y z
2
  8M yM
2 2 2
x y
2 2
M 2
z x
2 2


 4 y 1  2M  x 2  y 2  z 2  w w 2
0 2

(5)
wf
wz
   
8 z M 2 x 2  y 2 M 2 z 2  x 2  8M 2 z M 2 x 2  y 2 M 2 y 2  z 2  

 4 z 1  2M  x 2  y 2  z 2  w 2 w 2  0 (6)

Finally, we have a system of nonlinear equations. It is known that the Barth Sextic has 50 real and 15 complex
simultaneous solutions of Eqs. (2a)–(2b) and Eqs. (4)–(6), called ordinary double points (nodes), which are singular
points. As a result, this sextic is known to have the maximum possible number of nodes, which is 65.9 The Barth
Sextic surface is called a world record surface due to the proof that one cannot find another surface with more than
65 singularities. Due to the well-known singularities of the Barth Sextic, the surface can be considered to be a
beautiful motif for a textile such as batik.

METHOD
There are several ways to create batik art on a textile once the motifs governed by Barth Sextics are selected. The
usual traditional manners for creating batik are klowongan, isen-isen and harmonic ornamentation.7 Furthermore,
lots of symmetries are revealed in a Javanese batik.10 Using algebraic surfaces for batik motifs, the klowongan
process is done by copying the surfaces onto a textile. In the next step of drawing, one needs to paint colors on the
motifs. A special tool called canthing made from copper with a typical pattern is used to sign the borders of each
surface such that the required colors will not from the given motifs. A typical liquid made by a hot wax is painted on
the borders of the Barth Sextic surfaces. Unfortunately, some of students have their own creations on selecting the
motifs obtained from the Surfer. These are allowed although the Barth Sextic surface is more recommended. Finally,
coloring process is done and the colors are freely chosen. Unlike to what students have proposed with traditional
manner in drawing and painting on textiles, one may create a stamp made from copper where the motif is obtained

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from the Surfer. In this case, an artist in this direction should make the stamp firstly due to the given picture. After
the stamp is made, the motif is finally printed with selected colors.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

There are available well known algebraic surfaces that can be created using the surfer. One of these surfaces is
the Barth Sextic surface, as we have discussed in the previous section. In order to introduce this surface more easily
to society, the local heritage such as batik is used to bring new innovation on creation of its motifs. Traditionally,
batik carries philosophical values related to the region or a local culture, e.g., Javanese batik.10,11 And may vary from
town to town. Thus, each region or city in Indonesia, mostly in Java, has a typical motif. Compared to the proposed
motifs here, the motifs are renewed by new development of technologies in creating surfaces, which is the novelty
of this research paper.
Using the Surfer as the tool for drawing the Barth Sextic surface, several possible types of surfaces can be
obtained, since we may vary the parameters in Eq. (3). We will focus on three possible surfaces. The innovation is
defined by replacing the golden ratio (1.6) by other values. The first example is given by M = 0.32, zoom = 0.19x
shown by Fig. 1(a). The picture is then introduced to an artist of a copper crafter for designing batik motifs. The
manual procedure is still relevant in this step and the result is depicted in Fig. 1(b). The copper stamp is obtained by
following the given design shown in Fig. 1(c). The same procedures are applied to different motifs, yielding
different surfaces. The selected surfaces are shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.

(a)

(c)

(b)

FIGURE 1. (a) First motif of Eq.(3) with M =0.32, zoom = 0.19x; (b) The second step’s design for copper’s motifs. (c) The
copper’s stamp is obtained.

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 (a)

(c)

(b)

FIGURE 2. (a) First motif of Eq. (3) with M =0.95 ; zoom 0.80x. (b) The second step’s design for copper’s motifs. (c) The
copper’s stamp is obtained.

(a)

(c)

(b)

FIGURE 3. (a) First motif of Eq.(3) with M =0.79 , zoom =0.50x. (b) The second step’s design for copper’s motifs. (c) The
copper’s stamp is obtained.

Finally, after each copper has been defined related to its surface, one may develop the motifs on textiles with
various possible colors. Other researchers have examined the use of natural colors to maintain the water footprint

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(WF).12 In this paper, we employed freely chosen colors where the novelty of this research is mostly due to the
designs by obtained from using Barth Sextic surfaces.
Note that the surface is also varied into several sizes of surfaces, and these various sizes must be connected. The
two processes during the design are still manually done. Some products are depicted in Figs. 4–6.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)
FIGURE 4. Innovated Barth Sextic connected surfaces with M =0.32, zoom = 0.19x combined with traditional motifs.

(a) (b)

FIGURE 5. Innovated Barth Sextic connected surfaces with M =0.95 ; zoom 0.80x combined with traditional motifs.

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 (a) (b)

FIGURE 6. Innovated Barth Sextic connected surfaces with M =0.79, zoom =0.50x combined with traditional motifs.

CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents a study of the use of Barth Sextic surfaces. The expression of a plane as a general surface has
been introduced in such a way that a plane is understood to be a surface which has no singularities. The Barth Sextic
surface is discussed as a surface with 65 singularities. The expression of the Barth Sextic surface is then developed
due to the high number of its singularities, so as to be a surface for motifs of batik textiles: by replacing the Golden
Ratio existing in its formula, various different surfaces are obtained. The motifs are instantiated as motifs on copper
stamps for mass production of batiks. There are three stamps shown in this paper and used for different colors of
batik textiles.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The result of this paper is supported by UKSW from research funding in Sem. II 2017/2018 no.
043/PRV/2/2018, 13 February 2018.

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