1. INSTALLING THE GAME 1. Download VAM_BETA09.zip from this website. 2. Unzip VAM_BETA09.zip and move the VAM_BETA09 folder to your hard drive. I recommend putting the folder in your C drive. 3. Open the vam folder inside of VAM_BETA09. Inside of the vam folder you will find vam.exe. This is the VAM executable. For the software to function correctly, vam.exe must be run from within the vam folder. 4. To create a desktop shortcut to vam.exe, right click vam.exe and "Create Shortcut." Drag the shortcut to your desktop, or whereever you would like. 5. You can now run VAM by double clicking the vam shortcut. 2. CONTROLS Truck camera Middle mouse wheel or plus / minus keys. Trucking is moving the camera closer to or further away from the subject. Note: To truck in use the plus key without holding shift. Rotate camera Left mouse button. Rotating moves the camera in 3D space while it stays pointing at the subject. Select node Right mouse button. Select a node by hovering over it with the cursor and right clicking. Change focal point c key. Select a node, then center the camera around this node by clicking the 'c' key. Take snapshot s key. Take a snap shot of the current screen. A jpeg image is place in the directory VAM was ran from. Toggle interface visibility ~ key. Hide the interface by pressing the '~' key. Simply press '~' again to show the interface. Pause F1 key. Pause the game. A menu appears that allows you to return to the Main Menu. 3. THE TWO MODES OF PLAY Text Field: Use the Text Field to enter expressions into the Machine. Activate the text field by clicking it with the left mouse button. See Expressions for more on entering expressions. In game mode, enter the decoded expression into the text field. Build Button: Press the Build Button to build the expression in the Text Field. In game mode, press the build button to submit the decoded expression. The expression can also be built or submitted by pressing Enter when the text field is active. If you try to build an invalid expression, or submit the wrong expression in game mode, a will appear to the right of the text field and remain until a valid expression is entered. 4. EXPRESSIONS Expressions entered into the Virtual Algebra Machine are parsed into an expression tree using a recursive function. After the tree is parsed, it is drawn in level order (parent, or root, first, then children, then grandchildren, then great grandchildren). Expressions are composed of operators and operands. Valid VAM operators are: + :   addition (a+b) - :   subtraction (a-b) * :   multiplication (a*b) / :   division (a/b) ^ :   exponent (a^b) = :   equality (a=b) All operators must be written explicitly. For example: invalid: b^2 +4ac valid:    b^2 + 4*a*c Valid VAM operands are: Any constant integer in the range 0 to 9999 RING VALUES 1: red 10: blue 100: green 1000: orange The value of a constant can be found by summing up the values of rings. For example, The constant in the above image is 5*(1) + 5*(10) + 5*(100) + 5*(1000) = 5,555. Any variable named any letter in the English Alphabet, upper and lowercase. NOTE: there is a limit on the length of the expression. The underlying parse tree (expression tree) may have a height (number of levels within the tree) no greater than 12 . SAMPLE EXPRESSIONS: Here you will be presented with three algebraic expressions represented in standard notation, prefix notation (operator written before operands), as an expression tree, and as a VAM tree. The Virtual Algebra Machine parses the expression in standard notation to a 3D expression tree. Prefix notation is introduced as an intermediate step between standard notation and the expression tree. Notice that the edges connecting the left hand side of the expression to the operator are red. Edges connecting the right hand side to the operator are black. standard: a+b prefix: +(a,b) expression tree: VAM tree: standard: a^b+c=d/2 prefix: =(+(^(a,b),c),/(d,2)) expression tree: VAM tree: standard: c+((d^2/3)*(a+b)) prefix: +(c,*(/(^(d,2),3),+(a,b))) expression tree: VAM tree: 5. LINKS >> Aesthetic Computing: General Aesthetic Computing area. >> Aesthetic Computing Workshop: Workshop for mathematics teachers. >> Aesthetic Computing Course: Course offered at University of Florida.