If you can get him into building eurorack synthesizers, he can start turning some of this math into music. This module, for example https://www.nonlinearcircui

If you can get him into building eurorack synthesizers, he can start turning some of this math into music. This module, for example https://www.nonlinearcircuits.com/modules/p/cellular-automata https://www.nonlinearcircuits.com/modules/p/cellular-automat... uses networks of XOR gates to create "is a 16 cell gate and pattern generator using cellular automata rules 90 & 150". Blinky lights in a grid that steps with those rules and can steer other modules. I love mine. The designer has many other wild designs based on chaotic dynamics and many other non-linear mathematical concepts. The name is kind of a giveaway.