Marc Chamberland and Chris French
Most people view mathematics as a collection of tools and procedures and get mired in the mechanics. Mathematical art communicates the essential beauty found in mathematics. As G. H. Hardy wrote, "The mathematician's patterns, like the painter's or the poet's must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colors or the words must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in this world for ugly mathematics."
The Lorenz attractor is the limiting set of a three-dimensional
system of
differential equations modeling atmospheric convection. Discovered
by Ed
Lorenz in 1962, this set has become an attractive symbol for
chaotic
dynamics. The art work was created by modifying Mathematica code
developed
by Knill and Slavkovsky. An important new component was to have
the curve
which generates the shape continuously change color. This allows
the observer
to see the flow of motion as the attractor is generated.