KappaTau Downloads

KappaTau curves are a type of space curve.   Instead of describing the curve in terms of (x,y,z) coordinates, the curve is described by its intrinsic geometry.  That is, its curvature (kappa) and its torsion or twisting (tau) are given as functions of the arclength along the curve.  You can read Rucker's paper about this topic online here: "Watching Flies Fly: Kappa Tau Space Curves"  A similar article titled “How Flies Fly: The Curvature and Torsion of Space Curves,” is to appear in a book of articles honoring Martin Gardner, tentatively titled Puzzler’s Tribute, to be published by A K Peters, Ltd.

KappaTau is a Windows program which shows space curves defined in terms of curvature (kappa) and torsion (tau). The KAPTAU.ZIP file is 103K big, and it includes KAPTAU.EXE, KAPTAU.HLP, and a support file called BWCC.DLL. The curves tumble in space and you can do a virtual reality fly-through with left and right clicks of your mouse.

Download Rudy Rucker's Kappa Tau Curve Software, kaptau3.zip

The KappaTau program was discovered using the Mathematica software. A copy of Rucker's Mathematica notebook for this is available here. The KT_MATH.ZIP file is 750K big. It includes three versions of the Mathematica notebook: KTMAC.MA for Mathematica 1.0 on the Mac, KT10.MA for Mathematica 2.0 in Windows, and KT10_FIX.MA for Mathematica 3.0 on Windows.

Download Mathematica Notebook for Rudy Rucker's Kappa Tau Curves, kt_math.zip

“Designing a Baseball Cover,” An article by Richard B. Thompson about the “true” baseball strich curve (which resembles, but is different from, the kappatau curve shown in the background of the KappaTau Downloads page).