Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!sun-barr!newstop!sun!pepper!cmcmanis
From: cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Math Function Viewing Programs
Message-ID: <125231@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 25 Sep 89 19:02:11 GMT
References: <3029*David.Slonosky@QueensU.CA>
Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM
Reply-To: cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 27

I've used Doug's Math Aquarium quite a bit and find it extremely helpful
in visualizing various functions. The interface is different, but quite
efficient when you get used to it. And it can plot some amazingly baroque
graphs because of it's "logical" functions. You can make up functions which
have several parts that are valid for different pieces of the graph, and
because you can visualize things in two or three dimensions with contours
or plots it can show you relationships that don't appear spacially. All
neat stuff. The function parser is very good to so you can type in complex
formulas without having to use a twisted language, they are almost like
BASIC statements. (But with C constructs) An example function (I call it 
the donut) would be :
	A: (FNB >1 && FNB < 2) ? SIN(FNB-1) * 2 : 0
	B: SQR(X**2+Y**2)	/* Distance from 0,0 */

Now the program plots the value of A, and the logical expression lets
A take on two values : 0 if SQRT(X**2 + Y**2) is less than 1 or greater than
2, And sin(FNB-1)*2 if the value is between 1 and 2. This makes a donut shape
when plotted in three dimensions (well actually a half donut because the 
bottom isn't there). This program is also capable of dealing with imaginary
numbers and can plot Mandelbrot and Julia sets as well. All in all it is
quite powerful and I wish I had had something like it in college.


--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis   BIX: cmcmanis  ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
"If I were driving a Macintosh, I'd have to stop before I could turn the wheel."