Lunchtime Meeting - 12.45pm - Speaker John Cleaver

What is a Fractal?

A fractal is a mathematical set that has a fractal dimension that usually exceeds its topological dimension and may fall between the integers. Fractals are typically self-similar patterns, where self-similar means they are "the same from near as from far". Fractals may be exactly the same at every scale, or they may be nearly the same at different scales. The definition of fractal goes beyond self-similarity per se to exclude trivial self-similarity and include the idea of a detailed pattern repeating itself.

Got it?

Or a fractal is a geometric shape that has symmetry of scale. This means that it is a shape that you could zoom in on a part of it an infinite number of times and it would still look the same. This is also called self-similarity.

Today John will explain the mystery of these beautiful objects.