Very Computer

Quote:> here is my function to be graphed:

>   F(X) = (X^t * A * X)^2           // X^t denotes the transpose of X
>                                    // ^2 denotes raise to the 2nd power

>  X is a vector, A is a symmetric square matrix.

>  For 2x2 A and X =(x, y) F(X) is a surface in 3-D.
>  The x-axis has the x component of X and the y-axis the y
>  component of X.  The z-axis has the value F(X) which is a scalar.

>  How can I graph something like that? What sort of entries the data
> file needs? I tried different things but nothing seems to work right!

Of course, you could always define your own 2x2 vector functions for
gnuplot ...

If you want to prepare a data file, it should be in "grid" format, which
looks like this:
  x00  y00  z00
  x10  y10  z10
  x20  y20  z20
   .    .    .
  xN0  yN0  zN0
[null line -- nothing except newline and/or return]
  x01  y01  z01
  x11  y11  z11
  x21  y21  z21
   .    .    .
  xN1  yN1  zN1
[null line]
  x02  y02  z02
  x12  y12  z12
  x22  y22  z22
   .    .    .
  xN2  yN2  zN2
and so on.

------ quadric.gpl ---------
# set the matrix components:
A11 = 1.0
A12 = 1.5
A21 = A12 # it's symmetric
A22 = 2.0

F(x,y) = (A11*x + A12*y)*x + (A21*x + A22*y)*y

plot [-3:3][-3:3] F(x,y)
pause -1 'Press a key to continue'
------ quadric.gpl -------

And then 'gnuplot quadric.gpl'

If you have to plot this often, with elements of 'A' generated by a
program, you might want to have that program write out a file like the
above and call 'gnuplot' from your program, or pipe the commands into
a popen()'ed 'gnuplot' if your OS supports piping.

--

Even if all the snow were burnt, ashes would remain.

Quote:>pause -1 'Press a key to continue'
>------ quadric.gpl -------