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TNJed

Beach Fanatic
Sep 4, 2006
588
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Seagrove Beach, FL
His work introduced me to the idea that repeating patterns exist everywhere. In fact everything can be reduced to a simple repeating pattern. From planets to snowflakes to the rise and fall of empires.

This too shall pass. Again and again and again :)

Observations: Famed mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot, father of fractal geometry, dead at 85

Benoit Mandelbrot, whose pioneering work on fractal geometry made him one of the few modern mathematicians to approach widespread fame, died October 14 at the age of 85. The cause, his wife told The New York Times, was pancreatic cancer.

Mandelbrot coined the term "fractal" in 1975 to describe irregular shapes in nature and in mathematics that exhibit self-similarity?like snowflakes or Romanesco broccoli, they look roughly the same at varying scales. The so-called Mandelbrot set, a plot of complex numbers whose boundary forms a fractal, provided perhaps the most visually entrancing embodiment of the concept. (See this article from the August 1985 issue of Scientific American for more on the mathematics of the Mandelbrot set.)
 

TNJed

Beach Fanatic
Sep 4, 2006
588
118
55
Seagrove Beach, FL
The empire thing was my philosophical extrapolation of Natural Law after being introduced to Mandelbrot's fractal geometry. They all end up collapsing under their own weight as does an economy, or an individual, or a star. It's rare to see it in a lifetime, but it makes the world go 'round.
 

Kurt

Admin
Oct 15, 2004
2,394
5,079
SoWal
mooncreek.com
The empire thing was my philosophical extrapolation of Natural Law after being introduced to Mandelbrot's fractal geometry. They all end up collapsing under their own weight as does an economy, or an individual, or a star. It's rare to see it in a lifetime, but it makes the world go 'round.

Civilizations rise and fall but there are so many factors that account for it - political, economic, and the nature of being human. In hindsight it is often easy to see these factors but when you are in the middle of building it is hard to see what's ahead.

Sociodynamics is fascinating. In Asimov's Foundation trilogy he postulated a branch of science called "psychohistory". The protagonist Hari Seldon was able to predict accurately the future of the civilization in which he was living, and manipulation of events became possible.

Physics is crazy enough to try and discern the patterns all around. The patterns of biology are complex and fascinating. I hope we never discover that there are simple patterns to imagination.



"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is."
-Isaac Asimov
 

scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,706
3,339
Sowal
Fractals are so cool - I wish they would teach more about them as it is a great way to get kids excited about math etc. The Broccoli Romano is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in nature.

We had an autistic kid in our class who loved fractals and taught us all about them.
 
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