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<\/a><\/p>\nWhat is this, you ask? This is a Prime Factorization Blanket!<\/p>\n
With colors, it shows the prime factorization of all the integers from 1 to 99.<\/p>\n
Here is the entire blanket, laid out flat:<\/p>\n
Here’s how it works: Every prime number gets a color. The numbers start in the lower left corner. I’ve got 0 through 9 on the first row, 10 through 19 in the next row, then 20 through 29, and so on through the top row, which is 90 through 99.<\/p>\n To show it more clearly, let’s look at each quadrant. Here’s the bottom left quadrant:<\/p>\n I put in the factors for each color. (After a few colors, I stopped putting in the “x” symbol for times.) I put a reference number on the left side so you can easily see which row. This set has 1 through 4, 10 through 14, 20 through 24, 30 through 34, and 40 through 44.<\/p>\n Now let’s look at the bottom right quadrant:<\/p>\n This picture shows 5 through 9, 15 through 19, 25 through 29, 35 through 39, and 45 through 49. For example, see if you can spot 48, which has a prime factorization of 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3. Or look at 38, right below it, which equals 2 x 19.<\/p>\n By the way, this blanket is for my little niece, the daughter of my brother, who is, if it’s possible, even more of a math geek than me. On the 17th of December, my sister-in-law had an ultrasound, and we learned that the baby would be a girl, so I chose shades of pink for the next primes that came up, 17 and 19!<\/p>\n Now here’s the upper left quadrant:<\/p>\n This picture shows 50-54, 60-64, 70-74, 80-84, and 90-94. Can you find 62 = 2 x 31? Or 94 = 2 x 47? (I have to note that the colors are more distinct in person, and you can tell by the garter ridges how many sections there are of each color.)<\/p>\n And finally, the upper right quadrant:<\/p>\n And this, of course, covers 55-59, 65-69, 75-79, 85-89, and 95-99.<\/p>\n I’m so happy to finish it! The yarn is the same as what I used for my Prime Factorization Sweater<\/a>, Cotton Classic. This yarn has enough colors (most important qualification), and it’s wonderfully soft — perfect for a baby blanket. I used a lot of leftover colors from the sweater, in fact.<\/p>\n The only really hard part? Giving it away! But I got the *idea* because my brother’s wife was having a baby, so this seems only fair to send it to the baby, as promised. Unfortunately, she lives on the other side of the country — so the one stipulation is they must take *lots* of pictures of her with it!<\/p>\n In fact, I thought of a way to console myself for giving away the blanket. My next project will be a Pascal’s Triangle Shawl!<\/p>\n I tested out, and the shape will work great!<\/p>\n I loved doing the entrelac squares for the blanket — it was much much easier than the intarsia I used on the Prime Factorization Sweater. And it will be easy-peasy to make a triangle instead of a square. I’ll use factors and do Pascal’s Triangle…. More on this to come, you can be sure!<\/p>\n My posts on Mathematical Knitting and related topics are now gathered at Sonderknitting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nI left a space for 0.
\n1 is the background color, white.
\nThen the next color is 2, a prime, so it gets its own color, blue.
\n3 is prime, and gets its own color, yellow.
\n4 is 2 x 2, so that square is two sections of blue. (You can tell on the blanket that there are two sections.)
\n5 is prime, and gets a new color, green.
\n6 = 2 x 3, so that square is part blue and part yellow. And so on. <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n