Noll wrote the following caption for this artwork in his 2014 article on Digital Art at Bell Telephone Laboratories: "Fig. 1. Gaussian-Quadratic. Copyright © 1965 A. Michael Noll. “Gaussian-Quadratic” is an example of algorithmic art. Coordinates along the horizontal axis are chosen by a pseudo-random Gaussian subroutine, while coordinates along the vertical axis are chosen by a quadratic equation. When a coordinate reaches the top, it is reduced modulo 1024 to begin to climb vertically again. This image reminded Noll of Picasso’s “Ma Jolie” which he liked at the Museum of Modern Art. “Gaussian-Quadratic” was created in 1962-63 as the culmination of a series of such images in which the parameters of the algorithms were varied. It was exhibited at the Howard Wise Gallery in 1965 – which determined the copyright date. The piece was registered at the U. S. Copyright Office."