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Re: quadric surfaces

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg12824] Re: quadric surfaces
• From: Martin Kraus <mkraus at theorie3.physik.uni-erlangen.de>
• Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 18:15:03 -0400
• Organization: Univ. Erlangen-Nuernberg, Theoret. Physik III
• References: <6lqnha$o17@smc.vnet.net>
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

Russell.E.Goodman wrote:
> 
> Hello all...  I'm working on some Mathematica for a Calc IV course and
> needed some help with quadric surfaces.  How can you get
> Mathematicatica to graph a nice looking hyperbolic paraboloid as well
> as other quadric surfaces like you see in the textbooks.  I've ended up
> using ParametricPlot3D, CylindricalPlot, and others but I still can't
> get a perfect/textbook example of a hyperbolic paraboloid.  Help??
> 
> Russ Goodman
> University of Oklahoma -- Department of Mathematics rgoodman at ou.edu

As far as I know the command ContourPlot3D (from the standard package
Graphics`ContourPlot3D`) does exactly what you are looking for. (If
your surface is given by an equation you have to bring it into the form
f[x,y,z] == 0 and then give ContourPlot3D the function f[x,y,z] as
first argument. Note that the PlotPoints option of CountourPlot3D is
completely different from the usual meaning. Anyway their is a detailed
description in the Mathematica online-help.)

Hope that helps

Martin