Re: [Phys-l] [tap-l] Chaotic Pendulum source

[Bernard Cleyet <bernardcleyet@redshift.com>]

I've posted to PHYS-L, as I think the mechanical chaotics (link near 
bottom) will interest those members.

Viewing the Chaotic Elastica brought back memories of the time when 
analogue computers were the only way to computer model equations (early 
80's).  We had several computers.  The students were required to model 
various simple non-chaotic equations (e.g. anharmonic oscillators) and 
at least one * w/ initial conditions that would transition to chaos.  We 
used some old Tek. storage scopes, not digital, of course.  I bought 
from the last of HP's production of X/Y plotters.  With its pen lift and 
Peter Scott's pulse box we obtained Poincaré sections.


* I remember Lorenz and Duffing.

bc, thinks it's "typical" of a mathematician to think a physical device 
is a model of an equation instead of the reverse!  Perhaps they are 
Platonists?

p.s. my career began in the "heyday" of analogue computers at Librascope 
and ended after being displaced. 

Annie Atiyeh wrote:

> Our math department has a "Math Demo Lab" web site that contains various physical demonstrations, including double pendulum, that highlight key mathematical concepts. Last year and during the summer I worked with students from different disciplines to   start this project (check under people at the web site). The link to the web site is:
> http://www.math.hmc.edu/~jacobsen/demolab/
>
> Annie Atiyeh
> Harvey Mudd College
> Physics Dept.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tim Cook" <tim.cook@asu.edu>
> To: tap-l@lists.ncsu.edu
> Sent: Thursday, September 6, 2007 5:22:42 PM (GMT-0800) America/Los_Angeles
> Subject: [tap-l] Chaotic Pendulum source
>
>
>
>  
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