Mathematics · Study 059
De Jong Dust
A Peter de Jong attractor: one point hops according to four constants and 420,000 dots a second settle into folded, silky shapes.
What you're looking at
A single point is moved by two short formulas made of sines and cosines, controlled by four constants. Each new position is plotted as a faint dot. The point never repeats and never escapes, and its visits pile up along curved sheets. Dense regions glow, sparse ones stay dark.
The idea behind it
This map was popularised through a column in Scientific American in the 1980s and became a staple of early computer art, since four numbers are enough to specify an image of great intricacy. Small changes to any constant can swap an elegant ribbon for a featureless blob, so sets that fail a quick spread test are skipped.
Try this
Click or tap to roll four new constants. A new attractor also appears every seven seconds.
