Volume 7, Issue 2
We discuss a color map for complex numbers that is useful for visualizing
complex-valued functions. The color map is a stereographic projection from the
surface of the color manifold in the HLS system onto the complex plane. The phase of
a complex number is represented by the hue while the absolute value is described by the
lightness. The package ComplexPlot.m implements this
color map and defines generalizations of the usual DensityPlot,
ContourPlot, and Plot3D commands.
The resulting plots illustrate the qualitative features of complex functions, such as the
position and order of zeros and poles.
(If you don't have a copy of Mathematica, you can view the notebook
Bernd Thaller, Institute of Mathematics, University of Graz, Heinrichstr. 36,
A-8010 Graz, Austria