A group called Pyraloons set themselves the challenge of building the world’s biggest Sierpiński tetrahedron from balloons. And they succeeded! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

(Photos © Leanne Smith, used with permission)

Here’s why they did it:

[Pyraloons is a] collection of entertainment professionals, from balloon modellers to clowns, working together to break world records in novel and innovative ways; all the while raising funds and awareness of the charity AIMSSEC and the good work it does promoting and educating South African pupils and teachers in the wonders of Maths.

And here are organisers Sandra and Caroline explaining the plan:

[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVEIZe1IlOI]

So it behoves me to link to AIMSSEC.

The intent was to break the Guinness World Record for the largest modelling balloon sculpture with an 8,000-piece structure, but the heat and other problems meant they had to settle for the one quarter which could stand on its own. It’s congruent to the full thing anyway, so you get the point. There’s plenty more information about the record attempt on the Pyraloons Facebook page.

via ICMS Edinburgh and Bubbly Maths on Twitter.