so what is a fractal?
fractal /'frakt(
)l/
(Mathematics)
→
noun
a curve or geometrical figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole. They are useful in modelling structures (such as snowflakes) in which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, and in describing partly random or chaotic phenomena such as crystal growth and galaxy formation.
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adjective
relating to or of the nature of a
fractal or fractals:
fractal geometry.
- ORIGIN 1970s: from French, from Latin
fract- ‘broken’, from the verb
frangere.
"fractal noun" The Oxford Dictionary of English (revised edition). Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Fractal Translations. 30 July 2010
<http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t140.e29288>
wikipedia.org - fractal - romanesco broccoli
answers.com - fractal
