how to use the program

1) choose a group

There are six groups described in the FAQ. Pick one from the menu.

2) choose a cable class

These are listed as pairs of +/- permutations, because we use group elements to label the cables. Pick one.

3) choose a strut

These vary with the cable class you picked. So pick this after you have chosen your group and cables.

You might have to wait a couple of seconds before the next calculation is ready:

4) click a stress ratio

Click anywhere within the determinant plot shown.

Clicking toward the left side puts more stress on the first cable, right gives more on the second cable. You can drag too, if you don't move the mouse too fast. The vertical coordinate refers to the strut compression, but the value shown where you clicked is probably not the "winning" value; that gets calculated.

The determinants displayed apply to what we call the local stress matrices. We split the stress matrix for the tensegrity into direct summands corresponding to the various irreducible representations, and the determinants shown are for those summands. The one nearest the top is the "winner".

If the winner is 3 or 2 dimensional we plot the resulting tensegrity. If the winner is 1, 4, or 5 dimensional we don't, and the previous picture remains.

5) drag it

You can rotate the tensegrity by dragging it around with the mouse.