Math Nerd Friday
Jason Kottke reminds me of how much I’ve always loved fractals, despite not having the chops to understand them fully at a mathematical level. Like Kottke, when I built my 386-based computer (running at a searing 33 MHz) a zillion years ago, I remember installing a DOS-based fractals program that would attempt a deep dive into the Mandelbrot set. Also like Kottke, the PC wouldn’t get very far before it would stone-cold hang, paralyzed by the computational load, and force me to turn the entire thing off and on again.
So at the end of this post I will show you an incredible HD zoom into the Mandelbrot set all the way down to e214, which if you’re familiar with fractals you know is utterly mind-bending magnification. For those who need some context:
The final magnification is e.214. Want some perspective? A magnification of e.12 would increase the size of one actual single particle, to the same size as the earths orbit! e.21 would make that particle look the same size as the milky way! e.42 would be equal to the universe! This zoom smashes all of them away. If you were “actually traveling” into the fractal, your speed would be faster than the speed of light.
If you don’t know what a fractal is, you should, because it’s important.
What is a fractal anyway? Well as you asked I will give you a brief run down.This particular fractal is called the Mandelbrot fractal set. The Mandelbrot fractal set is created using a mathematical formula that involves complex (infinite) numbers. These numbers are plotted onto a graph to produce the image. It is named after Benoît Mandelbrot. A famous mathematician who discovered fractal geometry. The boundary of this fractal is infinite. Meaning that when you magnify it, the edge of the boundary eventually becomes infinity complex. Buried within the Mandelbrot set are an infinite amount of smaller sets – that are self similar to the original. This animation is a journey to a set so infinitesimally small that if you could see all of the original it would be bigger than the universe!
Another term Kottke reminds me of is self-similarity, which is what in the video below creates the feeling of repetition and the notion of the whole having the same shape as the parts. Man, sometimes I wish I was a quantum physicist. Anyone have another 80 IQ points lying around?
All of this is a lot of run-up to watch a simple ten minute video, but now the boring stuff is over. I suggest putting on headphones, flipping your lights off and taking 10 minutes to experience this, in full-screen mode if possible. Yes, I know it gets heavy and strange and what’s the point of this? about halfway through, but it’s worth it. Especially the end.
Enjoy.
Mandelbrot Fractal Set Trip To e214 HD from teamfresh on Vimeo.
