Electronic Proceedings of the Twenty-first Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics

New Orleans, Louisiana, March 12-15, 2009

Paper S058

This is an electronic reprint, reproduced by permission of Pearson Education Inc. Originally appeared in the Proceedings of the Twenty-first Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, ISBN 0-321-68983-6, Copyright (C) 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Adventures in 3D Modeling Using VP ython

Russell Herman

University of North Carolina - Wilmington

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Gabriel Lugo

University of North Carolina - Wilmington

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ABSTRACT

We discuss the use of VPython for developing, visualizing, and analyzing 3D mathematical models with minimal graphics programming. We also show examples (projectile motion, nonlinear dynamics, spread of epidemics, percolation, cellular automata) from a summer high school course. Such simulations are also used in undergraduate applied mathematics and science curriculum.

Keyword(s): software, modeling, applications