Geodesic Computation
William L. Anderson, President of Elements Research
URL: http://www.netcom.com/~elements/,
E-mail: elements@ix.netcom.com
7:15pm - 8:15pm, February 10 (Tuesday)
Room 165, Bond Hall
ABSTRACT
A geodesic is the straightest possible path on a curved
surface. Its computation can be applied in industrial
and scientific problems, including navigation, machine
cutting paths, robot motion, apparel manufacturing,
business models, and astronomy. William Anderson wrote
EleGeodesic software that solves the geodesic
differential equation. This software has been applied
to diverse problems, including tent manufacturing,
shortest transition path in business models, and
particle trajectories on multidimensional spheres and
tori. Mr. Anderson will illustrate many applications
and describe mathematical methods. He will also demo
software that calculates geodesics and displays them
using computer graphics (the following two graphs are
examples). Mr. Anderson's software
company Elements Research has operated in California
and North Carolina since 1977. Since he is a 1968
Citadel graduate, he will briefly describe courses and
computational machines available to math students in
the mid-1960s.
Right: Geodesic on Ellipsoid Colored by Gaussian
Curvature
Below:
Geodesic Tape Windings To Construct Pipe Section
