Fractals are the incredibly cool, repeating mathematical patterns that have found use in variety of areas in computer science. They are even responsible for some of the computer generated images (CGI) that you see in movies. Who knew? I could bore you to death with a long description of what they are, but it will be more fun if you check them out yourself. To get you started, here are a few pictures of what they can look like (all images were retrieved from Wikimedia Commons)
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Alhambra |
Sierpinski Square |
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Newton Fractal |
Pythagoras Tree |
Those are just are just a few examples of fractals. Perhaps the most famous one is Mandelbrot’s, as seen below:
Isn’t it beautiful?
The following is an animation of how a fractal is formed, just to get you thinking:
Now, here are some sites to check out … you need to figure out what fractals are and how are they used!
Fractal Lessons – this site is more advanced … check it out if you are up for a challenge.