Natural laws for motion. (Think Flash5 days or Processing)

Do you remember everyone had crazy experiments back in the day?

Id like to explore some algothrithms but i dont really know where to look.

If i wanted to create a spring system, i could read all about Hookes Law for example. This is physics. However, Drawing a Spiral is not physics and is essentially Maths.

What are these things called. There is bound to be a whole host of mathamtical stuff out there relating to all types of motion or other effects. I do find maths interesting, but i physically canny handle looking at another right angle triangle!