The Mandelbrot set is the most famous object in the branch of mathematics known as fractals and chaos theory. It was discovered in 1980 by the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot, who pioneered this relatively new field. A picture of the Mandelbrot set is...

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The Mandelbrot set is a set of points in the complex plane that forms a fractal. Mathematically, the Mandelbrot set can be defined as the set of complex c-values for which the orbit of 0 under iteration of the complex quadratic polynomial x2 + c remains...

The Mandelbrot set serves as a prime example of how simple mathematical operations can yield astonishingly complex geometric forms. Resembling a hairy snowman, this intricate shape has a convoluted border of loops and curlicues that calls to mind the extravagant ornamentation of baroque...

For the jacket of my recent collection of science essays, the publisher proposed a representation of the Mandelbrot set, a computer- generated mathematical pattern of wonderful complexity, one of a family of patterns called fractals. "But there's not a single word about fractals...