When I was in grade school, I had a minor obsession with Pascal’s Triangle.

First 9 rows of Pascal's Triangle

Just to refresh your memory, Pascal’s triangle a pyramid of numbers formed by adding a row of numbers together to generate the next row. It contains many patterns and fascinating attributes that would be very useful for a generative art project, such as: binary row sums, number locating, hockey stick patterns, prime occurrences, magic 11’s, polygonal numbers, points on a circle and others.

I could use several of these attributes to do some visual effects in the design. Here are a few ideas:

hockey stick patterns

Pascal Hockey Stick Patterns

By adding numbers in a diagonal direction, the last number on a changed course equals the sum. I could do something where I do lightening bolts down the hockey stick points.

Polygonal Numbers

The occurrence of polygonal numbers could allow me to display 2D quasi 3D polygons at varying intervals.

When I was thinking about the triangle, I always wondered it was possible to extend this into 3D space.

BB Gun

Carnival Star

I also have another idea to re-create a classic carnival game where the user shoots out a paper star with a BB gun and a fixed amount of ammo. I think I can do the star paper like how Igor Barinov did the Open Virtual Curtian, and let it fall apart from the BB’s.

It looks like I could use the MSA Physics environment to do the BB Gun.