A fractal is a geometric figure, often characterized as being self-similar; that is, irregular, fractured, fragmented, or loosely connected in appearance. Benoit Mandelbrot coined the term fractal to describe such figures, deriving the word from the...

Fractals are complex geometric patterns that sometimes resemble natural objects. Although mathematicians have been aware of some fractal patterns since the 19th century, Polish-born mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot (pronounced ben-WAH MAN-dul-bro) is...

When viewed from space, the coastline of an island such as Britain, which can be seen it its entirety at a glance, presents a random, jagged appearance. As you approach the island, the large-scale sense of the coastline disappears beyond the horizon...

Fractals are an important part of chaos theory, which is crucial to understanding physics at many, perhaps all, levels. Chaos theory is often one of the more misunderstood portions of modern physics. A chaotic function or system is not the same as a...

A fractal is generally "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole,"[1] a property called self-similarity. The term was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot...

Nobody had a name for them. But like other things that didn't have names--such as balls, cones, and cubes--there were always fractals. A fractal is a shape that is "self-similar." This means that the smallest part of a thing looks almost the same...

The Spark OES Pulse-Height Distribution for Inclusions in Metals The relatively new area of scientific investigation variously called "chaotic dynamics," "nonlinear dynamics," or "complexity theory" provides interesting insights into fields as diverse as astronomy, biology, chemistry, economics, geology, medicine, meteorology, and physics. Perhaps...