Fractals
Created | Updated Oct 20, 2010
<div align="CENTER"><img src="http://members.tripod.com/~ajdecon/School/bluespi.gif" height=100 width=150></div><BR/>
<p>Fractals are mathematically-generated images, often created using a computer. Often created using some guiding equation or geometric idea, they are actually infinitely complex: if you were to carry on the calculations forever, the image would not stop getting more and more complicated. Many scientists, especially in the field of Chaos Theory, are interested in fractals because they may help model the world around us. You see, many fractals use nonlinear equations; basically, they feed back in on themselves. (For those who might understand better with math, it'd be like running X through an equation to get Y, and then repeating the process with the old Y substituted as X. Fractals do this millions of times, which is why we need computers!) Still, they tend to have some kind of order within them, which gives scientists hope that they may be able to find some kind of order in nature, instead of the normal confusion one finds oneself confronted with.
<p>Fractals are mathematically-generated images, often created using a computer. Often created using some guiding equation or geometric idea, they are actually infinitely complex: if you were to carry on the calculations forever, the image would not stop getting more and more complicated. Many scientists, especially in the field of Chaos Theory, are interested in fractals because they may help model the world around us. You see, many fractals use nonlinear equations; basically, they feed back in on themselves. (For those who might understand better with math, it'd be like running X through an equation to get Y, and then repeating the process with the old Y substituted as X. Fractals do this millions of times, which is why we need computers!) Still, they tend to have some kind of order within them, which gives scientists hope that they may be able to find some kind of order in nature, instead of the normal confusion one finds oneself confronted with.
