Fractal/Talk

The text below is useful for dates and names, but does not provide a good (or even accurate) description of what a fractal is, so I hope the mathematicians here can do better. I wrote an article on the subject once for a graphics magazine [here], but it's a layman's introduction, not very encyclopedic (but feel free to steal from it). --Lee Daniel Crocker

Fractals

    A visual graph of an equation involving the

repetition, or reiteration, of a geometric figure.

    The general form is:  f(z) = z^2 + c 
    This can graph the Mandelbrot set, named after Benoit B.

Mandelbrot, (born 1924), who first used a computer to graph these number sets.

     Also of note is Gaston Julia, (born 1893),

who first studied iterative transformations, of the form: x^2 = x^2 + a and y^2 = 2xy + b, the basis for Julia sets.

    Their work has become the basis of fractal art.
    Colored number sets, displayed on computer screens, or printed on paper, reppresent some of the most beautiful,

compelling images you will ever see.

    Many Fractal Art Galleries can be found on the internet,

and are well worth a visit. gg

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I personally think you should Wiki your article. Encyclopedias need the general and the specific. And if the Fractint documentation is Public Domain (my bad. It isn't. But we could ask...) then that can be the start for individual entries on each fractal type. Just my £0.02 worth... Dave McKee