March 2006
The maths behind the music
The transformation rule which is the basis for Nick's composition uses the complex function
Iterating this function starting with a given value
gives a sequence of complex numbers:
Any complex number
z = x+ iy can also be thought of as the pair
(x,y) of real numbers, so the formula does indeed transform one pair into another pair, as described above (see
Plus article
Curious quaternions for an introduction to complex numbers).
Return to the article