What Is The Definition of A Fractal?

What is the Definition of a Fractal?
A fractal is not a simple object with a simple definition. Many people have
different ideas as to how to express what a fractal is.
divided into two basic types of definitions.
The definitions can be
There are technical definitions, and
more understandable, practical definitions.

In Ian Stewart's book The Problems of Mathematics (p 239), he says "Such
objects, possessing detailed structure on many scales of magnification abound in
nature; something worthy of study in its own right. The result is a new breed of
geometric figure, called a fractal." John Allen Paulos agrees that a fractal is "a
curve or surface (or a solid or higher-dimensional object) that contains more but
similar complexity the closer one looks," in his book Beyond Numeracy (p 84).
The technical definition that Benoit Mandelbrot gives of a fractal is "a set
for which the Hausdorff Besicovich dimension [see below] strictly exceeds the
topological dimension." Hausdorff Besicovich, or fractal, dimension is really what
separates fractals from other curves or surfaces.
I will explain this later in the
paper.
Some fractals are self-similar. There is really no disagreement about what a
self-similar fractal is. My definition of a self-similar fractal is: a fractal such that if
you enlarge a section, this enlarged section is identical to the whole.
The general consensus seems to be that a fractal is an object that is not
smooth or simple no matter how closely you look at it.
However, Mandelbrot's
definition is actually the true official definition. This makes Mandelbrot's the one I
prefer to use.
Fractal Dimension
For most objects, you can easily tell how many dimensions it is. A piece of
string is one dimensional, a square of paper has two dimensions. With a piece of
string, you need two to double it. With a square of paper, you need 4 to double its
size in all directions. With a cubic paperweight, you need 8. If you had a four
dimensional hypercube, you would need 16.
This eventually works out to a
formula: C = 2D This formula is how many copies (C) of a D-dimensional object it

takes to double it. It can be further enhanced to C = A D where A is the extent to
which you are enlarging the D-dimensional object. By "extent to which you are
enlarging," I mean how much you are multiplying it by in each dimension. To use
an A of 3, we need to multiply each dimension of the fractal by 3. We can solve for
D, and we get
the following. log C = (log A) * D. So, D
= log C / log A.
With one side of the Koch Snowflake
(the Koch Curve),
we can easily see that 4 stuck together
make something 3 times as large, so A = 3 and C = 4, and apparently, the Koch

Curve is 1.26185 dimensional. What Mandelbrot means by topological dimension
is that a curve is one dimensional, planar figures are 2-dimensional, and space
figures are 3-dimensional.
However, the surface of a sphere is considered 2-
dimensional, and the surface of a hypersphere would be 3-dimensional. The Koch

Curve's 1.26285 dimensions exceed 1, so it is officially a fractal. Apparently, this
method of finding fractal dimension only works on self-similar fractals.
I will
elaborate more on the fractal dimension of the other self-similar fractals when I get
to them.
Some Well-Known Fractals
The Koch snowflake is a very interesting fractal. The Koch snowflake is really
3 Koch curves stuck together. The curve can easily be generated by a simple
process.
You start with a line, and replace the middle third with an equilateral
triangle, and then repeat that for each of the 4 new segments, and so on. The
snowflake can easily be generated, without a computer, by the following process.
It starts as the outline of an equilateral triangle. Each side is then divided into
thirds, and the middle section is changed into an outward pointing equilateral
triangle. With each order of the fractal, every line undergoes this process. Thusly,
with each order, the length of this curve increases to 4/3 of its previous length.
However, the area never exceeds a certain number. For example, if you drew a
circle around order 1, the snowflake would never grow to be larger than that.
Mandelbrot's Square Snowflake

Benoit Mandelbrot
created
"square
snowflake" fractal, which

can be generated by a
similar process. It starts
as a square, but the
second fourth of each
side is turned into an
inwards-pointing square,
and the third fourth of
each
side
is changed
into an outward pointing

square.
With
each
order, the length of the
Mandelbrot's Square Snowflake (3rd order) Original graphic

created by Brad
border doubles, but the area stays the same. This is an interesting example of how
a fractal can have infinite length but it obviously has a finite area, as it doesn't
change with each order.
The fractal dimension of this is also easy to
determine.
As with the Koch Snowflake, we
are really only interested in one side of it

(shown at left). It is important to stress that
this is not really a fractal, merely my best
pictorial representation.
It is impossible to ever really draw a true fractal on a
computer, as it can only be detailed down to the size of a pixel.

We can see from the coloring that 8 copies of this fit together to make
something 4 times as big. If we plug this into our formula from before, D = log C /
log A, with C = 8, and A = 4, we get that this curve is 1.5-dimensional.
exceeds the topological dimension of 1, so it is a fractal.
This
Sierpinski Gasket
Another interesting fractal is the Sierpinski Gasket. It is

also
known
Sierpinski
as
the
triangle.
Sierpinski
It
was
triangle
created
curve,
by
or
Waclaw
Sierpinski.
The fractal dimension of this fractal can easily be determined.
We can see
from the coloring that 3 fit together to make something twice as big in every
direction. So, using the aforementioned formula, D = log C / log A, D = log 3 /
log 2. This comes out to a dimension of 1.585
However, one might object that this is

strictly
less
than
the
topological
dimension of 2, and as such, it is not a

fractal.
However, the true Serpinski
Gasket is really a curve, as illustrated in

the accompanying diagram.
It starts as
an equilateral triangle, and in the middle of the bottom segment, draw another,
upside down, equilateral triangle with sidelengths of half of the base line.
Repeat this ad infinitum on every horizontal line, including the half lines left
after constructing a triangle in the middle.
The Mandelbrot set

Perhaps the most well known fractal is the Mandelbrot set. The Mandelbrot
set is on the complex plane, which requires some explaining in and of itself. The
real number line, with 0 in the middle, the positive numbers on the right, and
negative numbers on the left is important to the complex plane. This serves as the
horizontal axis of the complex plane.
The vertical axis is based on the
imaginary number i. i is the square root of
negative one. The spot on the vertical axis
twice as far away as i is 2i. Below the origin
is the negative i's. The spot 3 units up and
6 units to the right is 3i + 6. Similarly, the
spot 3 down and 2 left is -3i - 2.
The Mandelbrot set is defined as "the
set of all complex c such that iterating z ->
z^2+c does not go to infinity (starting with z=0)."
In order to draw the Mandelbrot set, one

would have to iterate z -> z^2+c infinitely
many times.
In reality, this is hard to do.
However, the more times you iterate this, the

sharper and more accurate the final picture is.
The formula also says "goes to infinity."
The
operative definition of goes to infinity is that it

is eventually more than any given distance [such as 2,000,000] from 0. It has been
determined that if a point is more than 2 units away from the origin, it will "go to
infinity". In the colorful pictures of the Mandelbrot set, the artist or programmer
chooses a maximum number of iterations. Each point is then iterated up to that
many times. The point is colored depending on how many iterations it takes to get
out of the circle with radius 2. That's why there is a circle on the graph. All the
points outside that circle take 0 iterations to exit the circle (as they are already
outside it), and all the points inside it of the same color take 1 iteration to "go to
infinity". Sometimes 2 or more consecutive areas will have the same color. The
black area in the center is the space that never gets a color, as it never escapes.
This is the Mandelbrot set, the area that "does not go to infinity."
Another fractal that is related to the Mandelbrot set is the Julia set. The Julia
set is the set of all z (as opposed to c) such that z -> z^2+c for a given c does not
go to infinity. There are different Julia sets for each c you use.
The Julia Set
Other Fractals
There are many other fractals.
Some of them exhibit the interesting
properties that fractals can have, and some are very interesting.
This Menger Sponge, if combined with 19 others, makes

a larger one three times it's size. This gives it a fractal
dimension of log 20 / log 3. This comes out to 2.726,
but, like the Sierpinski gasket, it's topological dimension
is actually 2, as it could possibly be made out of lots and
lots of paper cutouts.
The Fractal Gasket pictured at right is another

interesting 3-dimensional looking fractal. It starts as
tetrahedron, then similar tetrahedrons are removed

from each of its faces, and this repeats infinitely. It
takes 5 of these to make something twice as big, so
its fractal dimension is 2.321, but it's topological dimension is also 2.
Many
fractals that require a 3-space to construct have a topological dimension of 2, and

many of the curves that are considered to have a fractal dimension of 1 need to be
drawn on a 2-dimensional paper.
This Sierpinski Carpet on a black background is another

good example of a fractal with a topological dimension of
1 that requires a 2-space to draw.
8 of these make
another 3 times as large, its fractal dimension is 1.892.
Fractals in Nature
Fractals exist in this world other than in computers. Some fractals happen
naturally, and do not need to be created artificially. Trees, coastlines, and even
human biology provide interesting fractals.
Looking at a tree, one can see a large main trunk, with many branches
sticking out of it at angles. If we focus in on just one of those branches, we see it
looks much the same, with smaller branches sticking out.
These have similar
twigs, and on the twigs are leaves, which are fractals in and of themselves.
Going along a coastline, we could measure how long it was. If we had to
stay within a mile of the edge of the coast, we would get a certain value for the
length. If we had to stay within 10 feet of the coast at all times, we would have to
follow all the small bumps and dents in the coastline, and we would get a much
longer coastline. If a mouse had to stay within 6 inches of the shoreline, the length
of this coast would be much longer. An ant that had to alter it's path for each grain
of sand could get something many times longer than the original person did who
could be a mile away. This fractal coastline is an example of detail at all levels.
The human circulatory system is another natural fractal. The large arteries
branch into smaller ones, and those into even smaller ones. At the end, there are
capillaries, which are intricate and detailed and complex by themselves.
Fractals really are many places in nature, even where you wouldn't think
they would be. So look around you, and maybe you'll see a fractal.
Bibliography
Stewart, Ian. The Problems of Mathematics. New York: Oxford UP, 1987.
Mandelbrot, Benoit B.
The Fractal Geometry of Nature.
New York: W. H.
Freeman and Company, 1977

Paulos, John Allen. Beyond Numeracy. New York: Random House Inc, 1991
Gardner, Martin.
Penrose Tiles to Trapdoor Ciphers.
New York: W. H.
Freeman and Company, 1989

"Free Cloud's Fractal Land" 05/25/00
<http://www.geocities.com/Paris/6976/what.htm> (May 25, 2000).
"Fractal Frequently Asked Questions and Answers" 2/13/95
<http://www.faqs.org/faqs/fractal-faq> (May 25, 2000).
"Iterated Function Systems" 5/20/99
<http://www.agnesscott.edu/aca/depts_prog/info/math/riddle/ifs/ifs.html> (May 25,
2000).
Matthew Warfel. "Fractals" 11/10/98
<http://www.cee.cornell.edu/~mdw/Default.htm> (May 25, 2000).
"Sample Pictures" <http://www.kcsd.k12.pa.us/~projects/fractal/pics.html>
(May 25, 2000).
"The Fractory" <http://library.thinkquest.org/3288/fractals.html> (May 25,
2000)

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What is the Definition of a Fractal?

The definitions can be

There are technical definitions, and

more understandable, practical definitions.

I will explain this later in the

This eventually works out to a

formula: C = 2D This formula is how many copies (C) of a D-dimensional object it

the following. log C = (log A) * D. So, D

With one side of the Koch Snowflake

(the Koch Curve),

we can easily see that 4 stuck together

make something 3 times as large, so A = 3 and C = 4, and apparently, the Koch

However, the surface of a sphere is considered 2-

dimensional, and the surface of a hypersphere would be 3-dimensional. The Koch

Some Well-Known Fractals

Mandelbrot's Square Snowflake

snowflake" fractal, which

into an outward pointing

order, the length of the

Mandelbrot's Square Snowflake (3rd order) Original graphic

As with the Koch Snowflake, we

are really only interested in one side of it

It is impossible to ever really draw a true fractal on a

computer, as it can only be detailed down to the size of a pixel.

Another interesting fractal is the Sierpinski Gasket. It is

The fractal dimension of this fractal can easily be determined.

However, one might object that this is

dimension of 2, and as such, it is not a

However, the true Serpinski

Gasket is really a curve, as illustrated in

The Mandelbrot set

In order to draw the Mandelbrot set, one

In reality, this is hard to do.

However, the more times you iterate this, the

operative definition of goes to infinity is that it

The Julia Set

Some of them exhibit the interesting

This Menger Sponge, if combined with 19 others, makes

The Fractal Gasket pictured at right is another

tetrahedron, then similar tetrahedrons are removed

fractals that require a 3-space to construct have a topological dimension of 2, and

This Sierpinski Carpet on a black background is another

another 3 times as large, its fractal dimension is 1.892.

These have similar

The Fractal Geometry of Nature.

Freeman and Company, 1977

Penrose Tiles to Trapdoor Ciphers.

Freeman and Company, 1989

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