What's New at the Visual Math Institute

Revised 23 August 2013

Summer, 2013

  • Chaotic attractors of discrete dynamical systems
    Fractal Notes
    Working with Ben Niell on a Visual Math performance instrument
  • Fall, 2010

  • Grant proposal for a Kepler play
    Working with Nina Wise and the Morrison Planetarium
  • Soroban instruction in grade 2
    Working with the Ross School to implement our program
  • Reviving the MIMI concerts
    Working with Mutant Trumpeter Ben Neill and new software
  • Winter, 2010

  • Chaos theory apps for the iPhone: Xaos Magick
    Working with Kelley Landaker, Katie Scott, Evan Schaffer, and Steve Cross
  • Summer, 2009

  • New website on math for kids: Soroban Tutorials
  • Spring, 2005

  • New website on research project: Electric Sheep
  • New website on research project: 3D Visualization
  • Fall, 2004

  • New website on research project: Landscape Dynamics
  • Winter, 2002

  • New website on Kepler
    The Pythagorean Kepler: all about the model for the solar system with spherical shells spaced by the Platonic solids; and the music played on them by the six planets
  • Winter, 2001

    Our outreach to India is moving forward.
    We are affiliated with universities in Santiniketan and Calcutta in West Bengal.
    We are active in the creation of the Einstein Institutes, in India, USA, and Germany, and elsewhere.

    Spring, 2000

    Sunday, May 07, 2000. Daisyworld simulation.
    A research project, long on the back burner, is heating up. This is devoted to the Daisyworld model of James Lovelock, central to his Gaia Hypothesis.
    We have just added a new website for this project, Gaia.
    Sunday, April 01, 2000. Our expansion into India.
    I have just returned from Calcutta and Santiniketan, in West Bengal, India. Plans are underway to open branches of the Visual Math Institute in India.

    Winter, 2000

    Tuesday, February 22, 2000. The Big Test.
    New book outline in the SAT FAQ section.

    Friday, January 7, 2000. The case of the missing grants!!

    Yesterday, the San Jose Mercury News reported the arrest of XXXX in Seattle. She is in jail in San Jose facing potential criminal charges, for defrauding 20 Silicon Valley firms of $103,000 intended as grant support for our Euclid Project, support which we did not receive.

    For the record, the Visual Math Institute entered into an agreement with XXXX, as YYY, Inc. in December of 1996. According to this agreement, she would seek corporate grants for the Euclid Project, and pass on to us 50% of all grants received. In addition, we paid $1500 as a startup fee. During the first half of 1997, we received four checks from YYY, Inc. totalling $3500. We understood that there were no further grants, and then XXXX moved away. These four grants were acknowledged on our sponsors page.

    Naturally we are very interested in contacting any of the firms which have offerred us support in the intervening two and a half years. The Euclid Project has cost $38,000 so far, since inception in May of 1995, and has at least $12,000 to go to finish the two volumes currently in production. These expenses are for illustration staff only, and to not cover the operating expenses of the institute.

    Fall, 1999

    Chaos in Discrete Dynamical Systems JPX
    This text for chaos theory by Abraham, Gardini, and Mira, published in 1997, is rather expensive due to the hardcover and the CDROM included. As it has not been possible to bring out an inexpensive paper edition with no CDROM, we are going to post part of the book here. This will include the front matter, the first of the three parts (Part I, Basic Concepts, 3 chapters), and the two historical appendices of Part III.
    The yarrow stalk oracle
    Full simulation of the yarrow stalk oracle posted, as well as a number of brief notes on the probabilities of the results.

    Summer, 1999

    The yarrow stalk oracle [Go there]
    The yarrow stalk oracle is used as a pedagogical application of chaos theory, and the I Ching is compared to bifurcation theory. A chaos theoretic simulation of the yarrow stalk oracle is presently under construction.
    The Chaos lab [Go there]
    Links to experiments in 1D and 2D discrete dynamical systems (from a UCSC course) have been collected on this page.
    The FAQs [Go there]
    All but one of the FAQs were posted October 1, 1997 and have been waiting for HTML formatting ever since. So at last they are improved, and the missing one (the Chaos FAQ) has been posted.
    VCE, the Visual Constructions of Euclid
    The second draft of was finished last April 15th (PDF format only). The third draft is now underway, and the first five are finished (HTML, PDF, and SWF formats).

    Spring, 1999

    Transcripts of talks by Ralph, 1983-1996 [Go there]
    Seven more transcripts have been posted. Total now is about 24.
    Transcripts of interviews by Ralph, 1987-1998 [Go there]
    Three transcripts have been posted.
    The constructions of Euclid
    The first draft of CatasQI, our visual edition of the 48 constructions of Euclid's plane geometry, is finished. We are posting the first draft of the 48 planar constructions in four formats: [HTML], [PDF], [GIF], and [SWF].
    Winter, 1999
    Chaotica
    Chaotica, aka the Chaos Center (our website for Chaos Theory) is coming to life after a long lapse
    Fall, 1998
    Chaos course
    Winter term at UCSC, beginning Monday January 04, 1999
    Rare offerring of the traditional chaos theory class
    Auditors welcome (MWF 9:30am in Appl Sci 152, seats 156)
    Summer, 1998
    SimMud at last, Aug 15
    After two years on the back burner, the bioremediation of the Pelham Bay Landfill is hot.
    Weekend workshop at the Omega Institute, July 31
    The mathematics of chaos and bifurcation
    Homeokinetics 1998, July 24
    The birth of algebra as a reaction-diffusion system
    at Arthur Iberall's 80th Festschrift, Univ Conn
    Spring, 1998
    07 May 1998: Public trialogues at UCSC
    05 April 1998: [Talks]
    Acrobat (PDF) versions of 12 talks posted.
    Only three transcripts prior to 1994 remain to be posted.
    03 April 1998: The I Ching and its yarrow stalk oracle
    And now for something completely old.
    27 March 1998: [Talks]
    Eight more talks have been posted from 1989 to 1992.
    25 March 1998: [Talks]
    Three more talks have been posted from 1989.
    23 March 1998: Interviews
    The first interview has been posted from 1987.
    23 March 1998: [Talks]
    Two more talks have been posted, from 1983 and 1989.
    Winter, 1998
    08 Mar 98: Euclid's Constructions
    The drawings for the 48 planar constructions of Euclid's Elements are finally done. We have entered the text of the first few constructions, and the drawings will soon follow. The project should be complete before the summer.
    07 Mar 98: Ralph's schedule
    The list of travels for 1998 has been updated.
    07 Mar 98: Ralph's vita
    The list of articles has been updated.
    01 Feb 98: The Canon of Lespugue
    A new article has been posted.
    18 Jan 98: Webographics
    Websites "Webology" and "Webometry" have been moved from thales.vismath.org to www.webographics.com.
    15 Jan 98: Byrne
    We have begun posting a complete copy of Oliver Byrne's brilliant edition of the First Six Books of Euclid, of 1847. This Victorian masterpiece was among the finest editions of all time, ranking with the Billingsley of 1587.
    14 Jan 98: Talks [Talks]
    17 of Ralph's transcribed lectures are being posted.
    14 Jan 98: Interviews
    3 of Ralph's transcribed interviews are being posted.
    14 Jan 98: Schedule
    Ralph's Schedule of Travel has been updated.
    13 Jan 98: Vita
    Many broken links have been repaired.
    13 Jan 98: Articles
    6 of Ralph's articles have been newly posted in HTML format.
    12 Jan 98: Webometry
    This study of World Wide Web linkages from the points of view of fractal geometry, chaos theory, complex dynamics, scientific visualization, neural nets, and connectionism is now on the front burner.
    12 Jan 98: Catas-Q-I
    The Visual Constructions of Euclid, Plane Geometry
    This part of the Euclid Project is nearing completion. It will comprise a four-color book with a companion CDROM, including about 1000 drawings and animations of all 48 constructions of Euclid's plane geometry.
    Summer 1997
    Happy 3rd Birthday, VMI Website!
    This site went online on May 11, 1994.
    Pythagorean Geometry
    We are now finishing our third pass through Euclid's Elements, Books I - VI.
    • The first, an interactive website, (CDROM-to-be), VEE: The Visual Elements of Euclid is finished.
    • In the second, we extracted all of the constructions, and put together the drawings into animated sequences, The Construction Animations
    • In this third pass, the constructions according to Euclid's text are expanded by the addition of all details of "subroutine calls", that is, references to earlier constructions. These expanded constructions are reconstructions of the geometry of the Pythagoreans, a century or more before Euclid's time. They may actually represent the geometrical knowldge of the ancient Egyptians. We call them Catas-Q-I, or the expanded constructions of Euclid's plane geometry. A status table showing our progress is evolving.
    Math 181, Spring 1997
    The major bifurcations of mathematical history.
    This UCSC course finished June 12, 1997.
    Chaos in Discrete Dynamical Systems
    This book/cdrom/website package appeared, May, 1997.
    VCE: The Visual Constructions of Euclid
    This is a new part of the Euclid Project
    It includes of a 12-step program for the avoidance of math anxiety, and a stairway to the geometry of the Pythagoreans.
    Progress report, 11 July, 1997
    A brief update on our current status.