This term the principal mathematical topic will be conic
sections, including related topics such
as planetary motion, perspective, and spherical geometry.
In addition, the course will present a self-contained
introduction to techniques of mathematical illustration,
through use of the programming language PostScript.
Students will receive computer accounts on the Mathematics Department computer network, but they may also choose to work primarily at home.
|
You can obtain a full manual
for using PostScript
in mathematical illustration at
In time these notes will probably be updated especially for this course. The complete official reference manual for the most recent version of PostScript can be found at
but this is extremely technical as well as overwhelming in size, and you shouldn't need to refer to it. GhostScript, a good working interpreter for PostScript, may be obtained without cost over the Internet from the Aladdin home page for GhostScript
You should also obtain from the same site the interactive previewer, which is called GhostView or GSView, depending on your operating system. These programs are essentially the ones installed on the department network, and you should be able to work on both systems by mailing files back and forth. A group of UBC Computer Science students have put these programs, among others, on a CD which may still be for sale on campus (at CopyRight in the basement of SUB) at a nominal fee. |
For starters, here are some notes
from a previous year (you will need Acrobat reader to
look at these):
|
Sample programs
Three dimensional stuff
Student projectsEvery student in the course was expected to turn in a project involving mathematical graphics that could be posted immediately on the Internet. The results can be found on the page projects.html.References
|