Multi-dimensional function display using a color scale

Similar to the use of color on maps to indicate height information on a two-dimensional display, color can be used to convey a sense of the fourth dimension in a three-dimensional display. The information then appears as a set of color dots arranged in three dimensions. A color display system then shows sections of this assembly, much like a series of stacked colored maps.A particularly simple implementation occurs when the fourth-dimension variable is of limited range, such as in the display of complex-variable functions. By showing magnitude of the function as height and phase angles as colors, colored three-dimensional surfaces may be used to depict such functions vividly. The choice of the phase-angle color-scale determines the ease of reading off details from this display.