Visitors enjoy making pretty patterns using the harmonograph .
These figures are an example of Lissajous figures, formed by the combination of simple harmonic motions in different axes. The Double Chaotic Pendulum is an illustration how sensitivity to initial conditions leads to the mathematical behavior called chaos. Watch the Distribution Curve Exhibit build up a Gaussian curve. The reset mechanicsm on the exhibit is particularly clever and fun to watch. When you spin this exhibit you create a hyperboloid of revolution , an example of a mathematical surface.