The Sierpiński triangle

The Sierpiński triangle can be a pyramid. It is also called the Sierpiński gasket or Sierpiński sieve. There is no doubt that it is a beautiful thing, but how is it relevant to anatomy? 

Fractals are sets of modules that repeat recursively, reflecting self-similarity. Fractals appear everywhere in nature, from plants to planetary systems and we find fractal-like growth in our human bodies as well. You can read all about the triangle, spirality, self-similarity and more in my book. We'll look at Mount Meru and the SriYantra to see the correlation between the Fibonacci spiral, Pascal's Triangle, and this Sierpiński Triangle!

Here I thought I'd share a few snapshots from the process of making this model:

You can use the template provided in my book to make your templates - print them out on an A4 paper or trace by hand. 

Use a scalpel to reinforce the fold lines before you crease, then use a glue stick to adhere the flaps. You'll need 64 tetrahedra for this model.

Use a glue gun to stack your mini tetras into middle-level tetras, and these will stack to become four major tetras that stack to reflect the fractal architecture into your Sierpiński Tetrahedron (a.k.a. Tetrix). Enjoy!