Ideas for an improved formula database

[simon.snake]

Hi

The sheer number of formulae (is that the correct way to pluralise formula) for FractInt is astonishing.

I like playing with creating my own ones, and can't be certain if they are identical to an existing one.  We need some sort of application, platform independent would be ideal, which can take a formula, break it down into it's most basic parts and compare it against the orgform collection to see if it already exists.

Obviously there are many issues this brings up, for example, if I used a variable called ip and assigned it the imaginary part of pixel, and someone else used the variable i, the formula would give the same result, but would not be identical from a comparison point of view.  Maybe the application would have to also run FractInt for each formula to generate the fractal and store the gif that is created (saved as the name of the formula) and these images could then be used as part of the comparison (e.g. the formula may be written differently but the resulting fractal is still the same).

For example, I created one formula which I have recently uploaded into the gallery.  It is a nice image, but I wonder if it has been created before.  I am not likely to trawl through the huge number of frm files in orgfrm trying to locate it as this would take a very long time to do.

Anyone have any thoughts on this, as I'd love to see if it is possible, but I wouldn't be sure what language to use.

Simon