Carnegie Mellon Tool Automatically Turns Math Into Pictures

Visualizations poised to enrich teaching, scientific communication. Some people look at an equation and see a bunch of numbers and symbols; others see beauty. Thanks to a new tool created at Carnegie Mellon University , anyone can now translate the abstractions of mathematics into beautiful and instructive illustrations. The tool enables users to create diagrams simply by typing an ordinary mathematical expression and letting the software do the drawing. Unlike a graphing calculator, these expressions aren't limited to basic functions, but can be complex relationships from any area of mathematics. The researchers named it Penrose after the noted mathematician and physicist Roger Penrose, who is famous for using diagrams and other drawings to communicate complicated mathematical and scientific ideas. Watch Penrose in action in this video.