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Nelson Saiers: "Genocide is Evil" (2014)

N. S.: The piece "Genocide is Evil" speaks to the inherent evil in genocide. Now, colorful circles made out in primary, or childlike, colors spell the phrase "Genocide is Evil" in Braille. Now the choice of primary colors, or childlike colors, speaks to the obviousness of this statement. Some moral questions are very hard and nuanced. But in the case of the evil inherent in genocide, even a child realizes this, or should realize this.

Now, black line segments connect these colorful dots. If you want to find the area of the shape enclosed by these black line segments, you'd require Pick's Theorem. Now Pick's Theorem honors, or is named after, the Austrian mathematician who discovered it, namely Georg Pick. Now the phrase "Genocide is Evil" becomes much more personal when you realize that Georg Pick was actually tragically killed in the Holocaust; and so it becomes much more personal. In the lower right corner, you will see an equation. That equation is the one that bears Georg Pick's name, the one that can find the area of the enclosed shape.

[Photo courtesy of Nelson Saiers]

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