Timeline for Are there any good computer programs for drawing (algebraic) curves?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 17, 2010 at 11:37 | comment | added | Ketil Tveiten | If I could accept multiple answers, I would have. This answer got the nod because it solved my immediate problem, but it might as well have been Julián Aguirre's answer, as SAGE is on my list of things I should get around to looking at, but haven't yet. Mathematica is 'free' in the sense that my university has it installed on its systems, but I agree that open-source alternatives should be encouraged. | |
| Oct 15, 2010 at 22:24 | comment | added | Jack Huizenga | Mathematica is "freely" available to most people who post on this site, and the original poster demonstrated he was already familiar with and had access to Mathematica. | |
| Oct 15, 2010 at 20:31 | comment | added | Quadrescence | Downvoted because there are free and open source alternatives which solve this problem. | |
| Oct 15, 2010 at 13:11 | comment | added | Jack Huizenga | Actually, with a bit more experience, its quite easy to see that. Any homogeneous polynomial in 2 variables factors as a product of linear forms over $\mathbb C$; it's also not hard to see that these complex lines intersect the real plane in real lines. | |
| Oct 15, 2010 at 12:47 | vote | accept | Ketil Tveiten | ||
| Oct 15, 2010 at 12:17 | comment | added | Ketil Tveiten | That is, by looking at the equation, obviously... | |
| Oct 15, 2010 at 12:11 | comment | added | Ketil Tveiten | That's exactly what I am talking about. I would have no idea that this curve was a union of lines, just by looking at it. | |
| Oct 15, 2010 at 11:58 | comment | added | Jack Huizenga | And of course, in the example Ketil posted, the curve is just a union of three lines, all meeting at the origin. I agree real pictures are definitely worth something, especially when first cutting your teeth with the material. | |
| Oct 15, 2010 at 11:49 | comment | added | Georges Elencwajg | The bright side is that the real picture may be easy to draw: think of $x^2+y^2+1=0$ ... | |
| Oct 15, 2010 at 11:30 | history | answered | Jack Huizenga | CC BY-SA 2.5 |