Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!shadooby!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!decwrl!shelby!lindy!hanauma!rick
From: rick@hanauma.stanford.edu (Richard Ottolini)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: Fractals, and Philosophy of Science
Message-ID: <6937@lindy.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 6 Jan 90 20:00:03 GMT
References: <119.256E54C5@uscacm.UUCP> <1247@becker.UUCP> <9144@cbmvax.commodore.com> <6780@lindy.Stanford.EDU> <9215@cbmvax.commodore.com> <12707@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <1990Jan6.122804.21949@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
Sender: news@lindy.Stanford.EDU (News Service)
Reply-To: rick@hanauma.UUCP (Richard Ottolini)
Organization: Stanford University, Dept. of Geophysics
Lines: 10

a
Don't abandon "new age" mathematics such as fractals nor worship it.
Sometimes years later something will escape from the closet of recreational
mathematics and be useful.  Two examples:
(1) Cellular automata are a serious competitor to differential equations
for modeling waves and fluids in the earth sciences.  This after years in
the "Life" closet.
(2) In computer graphics, quaternian transforms may be a superior alternative
to homogeneous coordinates for modeling transformations.  These have been in
the closet over a century.