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An invitation through embedded visual interactive digital experiments

Computer experiments and visualization in mathematics and physics

J.-R. Chazottes [1] and M. Monticelli [2]

In this short essay, we show how computer experiments, and especially visualization, allowed for the investigation and discovery of phenomena which would have passed unnoticed. We shall also highlight the importance of interactivity between the computer and the user. We do this by surveying several historical examples from mathematics and the physical sciences. Pictures and hyperlinks to online interactive numerical experiments are provided. Needless to say that we do not claim to be exhaustive, and that the chosen examples reflect our taste as well as our limited knowledge.

Note. This article is published in The Mathematical Intelligencer with a different layout and without the embedded interactive digital experiments, and without section 10.


[1Centre de Physique Théorique, CNRS, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Palaiseau, France

[2Laboratoire de Mathématiques J.A. Dieudonné, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France