27 May
2003
27 May
'03
3:44 p.m.
At 09:45 AM 5/27/03 -0500, Prog. Dude wrote: <sippped>
Doesn't "fractal" have a *mathematical* definition?
Yes. I now quote from page 1101 of the second edition of the CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics: [A fractal is] "An object or quantity which displays SELF-SIMILARITY, in a somewhat technical sense, on all scales. The object need not exhibit *exactly* the same structure at all scales, but the same 'type' of structures must appear on all scales. A plot of the quantity on a log-log graph versus scale then gives a straight line, whose slope is said to be the FRACTAL DIMENSION." IMO, words such as 'somewhat' and 'not exactly' and 'same type' in this definition leave it open to individual interpretation. Jim M.