Fractality

Maybe you’ve heard of fractals before. You’ve certainly seen them – examples of fractal-like things abound. Take a look:

FractalBroccoli FractalSimulationKoch Mandelbrot_zoom.gif Lightning Image

A simple way to think about a fractal is as something that looks the same whether you zoom in or out. The pictures above have shapes which get duplicated at smaller and smaller scales (sizes). There are other kinds of fractals, too – things which have statistical relationships across scales instead of precise geometrical ones.

The pictures and animations of fractals are drawn from very different situations – fresh produce like the broccoli seen above, lightning, something that looks like a mountain, a snowflake. But they all have something very important in common – fractality. Maybe this is the root of the universality in the critical exponents?

Fractal Mountain Animation

Did you know…

Useful Links

Click here for a nice, short introduction to fractals and self similarity.
Sierpinski Triangle Animation