Domain coloring

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Domain coloring is a technique for visualizing functions of a complex variable. The term "domain coloring" was coined by Frank Farris. Frank Farris

Contents

[edit] Motivation

[edit] Insufficient dimensions

A real function f:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow{}\mathbb{R} (for example f(x) = x2) can be graphed using two Cartesian coordinates on a plane.

A complex analytic function g:\mathbb{C}\rightarrow{}\mathbb{C} of one variable lives in a space with four real dimensions, and therefore only two complex ones. One way of depicting holomorphic functions is with a Riemann surface

[edit] Visual Encoding of complex numbers

Given a complex number z = reiθ, the phase θ is represented by hue, and the modulus r = | z | is represented by either intensity or variations in intensity. The arrangement of hues is arbitrary.

Image:Unit_circle_domain_coloring.png

[edit] Example

The following image depicts the sine function w = sin(z) from − 2π to on the real axis and − 1.5 to 1.5 on the imaginary axis.

Image:Sine.png

[edit] References

[1]

  1. ^ Hans Lundmark (2004). Visualizing complex analytic functions using domain coloring (HTML). Retrieved on 2006-05-25.

[edit] External links