Surface Art in Mathematica
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"Our research seeks to produce esthetically pleasing surfaces with the software Mathematica. In our artworks, we used minimal surfaces, surfaces of least area, and tube surfaces, surfaces built around curves. These surfaces are 2- dimensional forms that lack thickness and use 2 variables in their representative equations. When adjusting the thickness, the surfaces became 3-dimensional. We used code to modify these sets of equations, which were then combined with built-in functions generating a range of results. Our results included 3D prints, movies, and graphics on Mathematica. The 3D prints helped visually display the position, in space, of the surfaces we created on a real-life scale. We used digitally generated movies to show how a minimal surface can morph into another surface by altering a parameter value. Finally, we altered parametric equations to produce an array of surfaces to show how minor changes in these equations affect the appearance of each graphic."