Mathematical Billiards: Where Every Shot Bounces Forever
Mathematical Billiards (2024)
Lael Shelton Costa explores mathematical billiards, from inner billiards in convex tables to outer billiards where the ball moves outside a polygon. Using computer experiments, Costa discovered that in hyperbolic geometry, infinitely many regular polygonal tables yield periodic orbits, unlike the three known in Euclidean geometry.
To me, this is a good example of how computer experiments can lead to progress in pure mathematics.