the.com/fractal
infinity hiding in plain sight, where zooming in only reveals more of the same chaos
means A geometric shape or pattern whose structure repeats at every scale, so that each small part resembles the whole, no matter how far you zoom in.
from Coined in 1975 by the mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot, who built it from the Latin 'fractus' — meaning 'broken' or 'fractured,' the same root behind 'fraction' and 'fracture.' He wanted a word for shapes too jagged and irregular for ordinary geometry, things with broken, fragmented edges that never smooth out however closely you look.
- coastline paradox
- a coast's length depends entirely on your ruler
- infinite edge
- finite area can hold an endless perimeter
- namer
- Mandelbrot coined the term in 1975
- in your body
- lungs and blood vessels branch fractally
- broccoli proof
- romanesco grows in perfect repeating spirals
mandelbrot set — mathematical set discovered by benoit mandelbrot in 1980, infinitely self-similar at all zoom levels
julia sets — family of fractals named after gaston julia (1918), generated by iterating complex polynomials
sierpinski triangle — fractal curve named after wacław sierpiński in 1915, created by recursive removal of central triangles
koch snowflake — curve devised by helge von koch in 1904, infinitely long perimeter enclosing finite area