Introduction to the Theory and Applications of the Remapper

摘要

An electronic analog computer is studied, capable of reconstructing figures, graphs, shapes, etc., in three- or higher-dimensional spaces from their two-dimensional projections given in the form of drawings, slides or photographs. The pattern of the reconstructed figure can then be distorted, remapped according to certain transformations, reprojected on desired planes to form new, differently parallaxed pictures of the reconstructed figure, or simply stored in a digital computer memory as a list of coordinates or vector components of points in space, together with their corresponding brightness values. The mathematical basis of this computer is analyzed and some of its applications discussed. The main emphasis is on the study of the application of the computer to the interpretation of bubble-chamber photographs. A new servo-mechanical feedback circuit developed specifically with a view to this application is also described.