At 06:29 PM 12/29/02 +0000, Anna Baron wrote:
I'm curious to discover a really good explanation, in layman's terms, of what a *fractal* is - just a couple of sentences and no technical jargon.
I quote from the book "Fractal Creations": Fractals are beautiful, fascinating designs of infinite structure and complexity -- the sort of intricate patterns that capture attention and evoke a sense of childlike wonder. A fractal is a *MATHEMATICAL OBJECT* that has detailed structure no matter how closely it is looked at, no matter how great the magnification. And also from the book: So what are fractals? As you make your way through this book, we will present ample evidence of the diversity of the universe of fractals and the multiplicity of ways of answering that simple question. I might add: fractals are graphs of reiterated mathematical functions. Fractals are pictures of the things numbers do. But even that is not really satisfactory. In truth, fractals are kind of a mystery, inhabiting as they do a world halfway between the objective and subjective. No one really knows why such simple mathematical expressions must lead to such complex results. Jim M.