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- Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv
- From: stepp@muvms6.mu.wvnet.edu (Ermel Stepp)
- Newsgroups: sci.fractals,sci.answers,news.answers
- Subject: Fractal Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
- Supersedes: <fractal-faq_793276921@rtfm.mit.edu>
- Followup-To: poster
- Date: 22 Mar 1995 23:19:51 GMT
- Organization: Marshall University
- Lines: 1907
- Approved: news-answers-request@rtfm.MIT.EDU
- Expires: 5 May 1995 23:16:46 GMT
- Message-ID: <fractal-faq_795914206@rtfm.mit.edu>
- Reply-To: stepp@marshall.edu
- NNTP-Posting-Host: bloom-picayune.mit.edu
- Summary: Fractal images, software, algorithms, definitions, and reference
- Keywords: fractals, chaos, complexity, Mandelbrot
- X-Last-Updated: 1995/02/20
- Originator: faqserv@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu sci.fractals:5794 sci.answers:2324 news.answers:40528
-
- Archive-name: fractal-faq
- Posting-Frequency: monthly
- Last-modified: Mon, 13-Feb-1995
- Version: v1n1
-
-
- FRACTAL FAQ (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)
- ___________________________________________________________
- ISSN Pending Volume 1 Number 1 February 13, 1995
- ___________________________________________________________
- (c) Copyright Ermel Stepp 1995
- ___________________________________________________________
-
- Introduction
-
- The international computer network Usenet contains discussions on a
- variety of topics. The Usenet newsgroup sci.fractals and the listserv forum
- frac-l are devoted to discussions on fractals. This FAQ (Frequently Asked
- Questions) is an electronic serial compiled from questions and answers
- contributed by many participants in those discussions. This FAQ also
- lists various archives of programs, images, and papers that can be accessed
- through the global computer networks (WWW/Internet/BITNET) by using email,
- anonymous ftp, gophers, and World Wide Web browsers. This FAQ is not
- intended as a general introduction to fractals, or a set of rigorous
- definitions, but rather a useful summary of ideas, sources, and references.
-
- This FAQ is posted monthly to the Usenet groups sci.fractals, sci.answers,
- news.answers, bit.listserv.frac-l and the listserv forum frac-l. Like most
- FAQs, it can be obtained free with a WWW browser or by anonymous ftp to
- ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/fractal-faq [18.181.0.24];
- also, with a text-based browser, such as lynx, or anonymous ftp to:
- byrd.mu.wvnet.edu/pub/estepp/fracha/fractal.faq [129.71.32.152].
- It can be retrieved by email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the
- message: send usenet/news.answers/fractal-faq
-
- The hypertext version of the Fractal FAQ has hyperlinks to sources on the
- World Wide Web. It can be accessed with a browser such as xmosaic at
- http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/fractal-faq/faq.html.
- Also, the hypertext version is online for review and comment at:
- http://www.marshall.edu/~stepp/fractal-faq/faq.html.
- Please suggest other links to add to the Fractal FAQ.
-
- For your information, the World Wide Web FAQ is available via:
- The WWW: http://sunsite.unc.edu/boutell/faq/www_faq.html
- Anonymous ftp: rtfm.mit.edu in /pub/usenet/news.answers/www/faq
- Email: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (send usenet/news.answers/www/faq
-
- If you are viewing this file with a newsreader such as "rn" or "trn", you can
- search for a particular question by using "g^Qn" (that's lower-case g, up-
- arrow, Q, and n, the number of the question you wish). Or you may
- browse forward using <control-G> to search for a Subject: line.
-
- I am happy to receive more information to add to this file. Also, let me
- know if you find mistakes. Please send your comments and suggestions
- to Ermel Stepp (email: stepp@marshall.edu).
-
- The questions which are answered are:
- Q1: I want to learn about fractals. What should I read first?
- Q2: What is a fractal? What are some examples of fractals?
- Q3: What is chaos?
- Q4a: What is fractal dimension? How is it calculated?
- Q4b: What is topological dimension?
- Q5: What is a strange attractor?
- Q6a: What is the Mandelbrot set?
- Q6b: How is the Mandelbrot set actually computed?
- Q6c: Why do you start with z=0?
- Q6d: What are the bounds of the Mandelbrot set? When does it diverge?
- Q6e: How can I speed up Mandelbrot set generation?
- Q6f: What is the area of the Mandelbrot set?
- Q6g: What can you say about the structure of the Mandelbrot set?
- Q6h: Is the Mandelbrot set connected?
- Q7a: What is the difference between the Mandelbrot set and a Julia set?
- Q7b: What is the connection between the Mandelbrot set and Julia sets?
- Q7c: How is a Julia set actually computed?
- Q7d: What are some Julia set facts?
- Q8a: How does complex arithmetic work?
- Q8b: How does quaternion arithmetic work?
- Q9: What is the logistic equation?
- Q10: What is Feigenbaum's constant?
- Q11a: What is an iterated function system (IFS)?
- Q11b: What is the state of fractal compression?
- Q12a: How can you make a chaotic oscillator?
- Q12b: What are laboratory demonstrations of chaos?
- Q13: What are L-systems?
- Q14: What is some information on fractal music?
- Q15: How are fractal mountains generated?
- Q16: What are plasma clouds?
- Q17a: Where are the popular periodically-forced Lyapunov fractals described?
- Q17b: What are Lyapunov exponents?
- Q17c: How can Lyapunov exponents be calculated?
- Q18: Where can I get fractal T-shirts and posters?
- Q19: How can I take photos of fractals?
- Q20: How can 3-D fractals be generated?
- Q21a: What is Fractint?
- Q21b: How does Fractint achieve its speed?
- Q22: Where can I obtain software packages to generate fractals?
- Q23a: How does anonymous ftp work?
- Q23b: What if I can't use ftp to access files?
- Q24a: Where are fractal pictures archived?
- Q24b: How do I view fractal pictures from alt.binaries.pictures.fractals?
- Q25: Where can I obtain fractal papers?
- Q26: How can I join the BITNET fractal discussion?
- Q27: What is complexity?
- Q28a: What are some general references on fractals and chaos?
- Q28b: What are some relevant journals?
- Q29: Are there any special notices?
- Q30: Who has contributed to the Fractal FAQ?
- Q31: Copyright?
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Learning about fractals
-
- Q1: I want to learn about fractals. What should I read/view first?
- A1: _Chaos_ is a good book to get a general overview and history. _Fractals
- Everywhere_ is a textbook on fractals that describes what fractals are and
- how to generate them, but it requires knowing intermediate analysis.
- _Chaos, Fractals, and Dynamics_ is also a good start. There is a longer
- book list at the end of this file (see "What are some general references?").
- Also, use networked resources such as:
-
- http://millbrook.lib.rmit.edu.au/exploring.html Exploring Chaos and Fractals
-
- http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Edu/Fractal/Fractal_Home.html Fractal Microscope
-
- http://is.dal.ca:3400/~adiggins/fractal/ Dalhousie University Fractal Gallery
-
- http://acat.anu.edu.au/contours.html "Contours of the Mind"
-
- http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/images/images.html Computer Graphics Gallery
-
- http://wwfs.aist-na.ac.jp/shika/library/fractal/ SHiKA Fractal Image
- Library
-
- http://www.awa.com/sfff/sfff.html The San Francisco Fractal Factory.
-
- http://spanky.triumf.ca/www/spanky.html Spanky (Noel Giffin)
-
- http://www.cnam.fr/fractals.html Fractal Gallery (Frank Rousell)
-
- http://www.cnam.fr/fractals/anim.html Fractal Animations Gallery
- (Frank Rousell)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: What is a fractal?
-
- Q2: What is a fractal? What are some examples of fractals?
- A2: A fractal is a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be
- subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a
- reduced-size copy of the whole. Fractals are generally self-similar
- and independent of scale.
-
- There are many mathematical structures that are fractals; e.g. Sierpinski
- triangle, Koch snowflake, Peano curve, Mandelbrot set, and Lorenz
- attractor. Fractals also describe many real-world objects, such as clouds,
- mountains, turbulence, and coastlines, that do not correspond to simple
- geometric shapes.
-
- Benoit Mandelbrot gives a mathematical definition of a fractal as a set for
- which the Hausdorff Besicovich dimension strictly exceeds the topological
- dimension. However, he is not satisfied with this definition as it excludes
- sets one would consider fractals.
-
- According to Mandelbrot, who invented the word: "I coined _fractal_ from
- the Latin adjective _fractus_. The corresponding Latin verb _frangere_
- means "to break:" to create irregular fragents. It is therefore sensible -
- and how appropriate for our needs! - that, in addition to "fragmented" (as in
- _fraction_ or _refraction_), _fractus_ should also mean "irregular," both
- meanings being preserved in _fragment_." (_The Fractal Geometry of
- Nature_, page 4.)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Chaos
-
- Q3: What is chaos?
- A3: Chaos is apparently unpredictable behavior arising in a deterministic
- system because of great sensitivity to initial conditions. Chaos arises in a
- dynamical system if two arbitrarily close starting points diverge exponential-
- ly, so that their future behavior is eventually unpredictable.
-
- Weather is considered chaotic since arbitrarily small variations in initial
- conditions can result in radically different weather later. This may limit
- the possibilities of long-term weather forecasting. (The canonical example
- is the possibility of a butterfly's sneeze affecting the weather enough to
- cause a hurricane weeks later.)
-
- Devaney defines a function as chaotic if it has sensitive dependence on ini-
- tial conditions, it is topologically transitive, and periodic points are
- dense. In other words, it is unpredictable, indecomposable, and yet contains
- regularity.
-
- Allgood and Yorke define chaos as a trajectory that is exponentially unstable
- and neither periodic or asymptotically periodic. That is, it oscillates ir-
- regularly without settling down.
-
- The following resources may be helpful to understand chaos:
-
- http://millbrook.lib.rmit.edu.au/exploring.html Exploring Chaos and Fractals
-
- http://www.cc.duth.gr/~mboudour/nonlin.html Chaos and Complexity
- Homepage (M. Bourdour)
-
- gopher://life.anu.edu.au:70/I9/.WWW/complex_systems/lorenz.gif
- Lorenz attractor
-
- http://ucmp1.berkeley.edu/henon.html Experimental interactive
- henon attractor
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Fractal dimension
-
- Q4a: What is fractal dimension? How is it calculated?
- A4a: A common type of fractal dimension is the Hausdorff-Besicovich
- Dimension, but there are several different ways of computing fractal
- dimension.
-
- Roughly, fractal dimension can be calculated by taking the limit of the quo-
- tient of the log change in object size and the log change in measurement
- scale, as the measurement scale approaches zero. The differences come in
- what is exactly meant by "object size" and what is meant by "measurement
- scale" and how to get an average number out of many different parts of a
- geometrical object. Fractal dimensions quantify the static *geometry* of an
- object.
-
- For example, consider a straight line. Now blow up the line by a factor of
- two. The line is now twice as long as before. Log 2 / Log 2 = 1,
- corresponding to dimension 1. Consider a square. Now blow up the square
- by a factor of two. The square is now 4 times as large as before (i.e. 4
- original squares can be placed on the original square). Log 4 / log 2 = 2,
- corresponding to dimension 2 for the square. Consider a snowflake curve
- formed by repeatedly replacing ___ with _/\_, where each of the 4 new lines
- is 1/3 the length of the old line. Blowing up the snowflake curve by a factor
- of 3 results in a snowflake curve 4 times as large (one of the old snowflake
- curves can be placed on each of the 4 segments _/\_).
- Log 4 / log 3 = 1.261... Since the dimension 1.261 is larger than the
- dimension 1 of the lines making up the curve, the snowflake curve is a
- fractal.
-
- For more information on fractal dimension and scale, access via the WWW
- http://life.anu.edu.au/complex_systems/tutorial3.html .
-
- Fractal dimension references:
-
- [1] J. P. Eckmann and D. Ruelle, _Reviews of Modern Physics_ 57, 3
- (1985), pp. 617-656.
-
- [2] K. J. Falconer, _The Geometry of Fractal Sets_, Cambridge Univ.
- Press, 1985.
-
- [3] T. S. Parker and L. O. Chua, _Practical Numerical Algorithms for
- Chaotic Systems_, Springer Verlag, 1989.
-
- [4] H. Peitgen and D. Saupe, eds., _The Science of Fractal Images_,
- Springer-Verlag Inc., New York, 1988. ISBN 0-387-96608-0. This book
- contains many color and black and white photographs, high level math, and
- several pseudocoded algorithms.
-
- [5] G. Procaccia, _Physica D_ 9 (1983), pp. 189-208.
-
- [6] J. Theiler, _Physical Review A_ 41 (1990), pp. 3038-3051.
-
- References on how to estimate fractal dimension:
-
- 1. S. Jaggi, D. A. Quattrochi and N. S. Lam, Implementation and
- operation of three fractal measurement algorithms for analysis of remote-
- sensing data., _Computers & Geosciences_ 19, 6 (July 1993), pp. 745-767.
-
- 2. E. Peters, _Chaos and Order in the Capital Markets_, New York, 1991.
- ISBN 0-471-53372-6 Discusses methods of computing fractal dimension.
- Includes several short programs for nonlinear analysis.
-
- 3. J. Theiler, Estimating Fractal Dimension, _Journal of the Optical Society
- of America A-Optics and Image Science_ 7, 6 (June 1990), pp. 1055-1073.
-
- There are some programs available to compute fractal dimension. They are
- listed in a section below (see "Fractal software").
-
- Q4b: What is topological dimension?
- A4b: Topological dimension is the "normal" idea of dimension; a point has
- topological dimension 0, a line has topological dimension 1, a surface has
- topological dimension 2, etc.
-
- For a rigorous definition:
-
- A set has topological dimension 0 if every point has arbitrarily small
- neighborhoods whose boundaries do not intersect the set.
-
- A set S has topological dimension k if each point in S has arbitrarily small
- neighborhoods whose boundaries meet S in a set of dimension k-1, and k is the
- least nonnegative integer for which this holds.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Strange attractors
-
- Q5: What is a strange attractor?
- A5: A strange attractor is the limit set of a chaotic trajectory. A strange
- attractor is an attractor that is topologically distinct from a periodic orbit
- or a limit cycle. A strange attractor can be considered a fractal attractor.
- An example of a strange attractor is the Henon attractor.
-
- Consider a volume in phase space defined by all the initial conditions a
- system may have. For a dissipative system, this volume will shrink as the
- system evolves in time (Liouville's Theorem). If the system is sensitive to
- initial conditions, the trajectories of the points defining initial
- conditions will move apart in some directions, closer in others, but
- there will be a net shrinkage in volume. Ultimately, all points will
- lie along a fine line of zero volume. This is the strange attractor. All
- initial points in phase space which ultimately land on the attractor
- form a Basin of Attraction. A strange attractor results if a system is
- sensitive to initial conditions and is not conservative.
-
- Note: While all chaotic attractors are strange, not all strange attractors
- are chaotic. Reference:
-
- 1. Grebogi, et al., Strange Attractors that are not Chaotic, _Physica D_ 13
- (1984), pp. 261-268.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: The Mandelbrot set
-
- Q6a: What is the Mandelbrot set?
- A6a: The Mandelbrot set is the set of all complex c such that iterating
- z -> z^2+c does not go to infinity (starting with z=0).
-
- An image of the Mandelbrot set is available on the WWW at
- gopher://life.anu.edu.au:70/I9/.WWW/complex_systems/mandel1.gif .
-
- Other images and resources are:
-
- Frank Rousells two hyperindex of clickable/retrievable Mandelbrot images:
- ftp://ftp.cnam.fr/pub/Fractals/mandel/Index.gif Mandelbrot Images
- (Frank Rousell)
- ftp://ftp.cnam.fr/pub/Fractals/mandel/Index2.gif Mandebrot Images #2
- (Frank Rousell)
-
- http://www.wpl.erl.gov/misc/mandel.html Interactive Mandelbrot
- (Neal Kettler)
-
- http://www.ntua.gr/mandel/mandel.html Mandelbrot Explorer (interactive)
- (Panagiotis J. Christias)
-
- http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Edu/Fractal/Fractal_Home.html
- Fractal Microscope
-
- http://hermes.cybernetics.net/distfract.html Distributed Fractal Generator
- for SunOS Sparcstations (James Robinson)
-
- Q6b: How is the Mandelbrot set actually computed?
- A6b: The basic algorithm is:
- For each pixel c, start with z=0. Repeat z=z^2+c up to N times, exiting if
- the magnitude of z gets large.
- If you finish the loop, the point is probably inside the Mandelbrot set. If
- you exit, the point is outside and can be colored according to how many
- iterations were completed. You can exit if |z|>2, since if z gets this big it
- will go to infinity. The maximum number of iterations, N, can be selected
- as desired, for instance 100. Larger N will give sharper detail but take
- longer.
-
- Q6c: Why do you start with z=0?
- A6c: Zero is the critical point of z^2+c, that is, a point where
- d/dz (z^2+c) = 0. If you replace z^2+c with a different function, the
- starting value will have to be modified. E.g. for z->z^2+z+c, the
- critical point is given by 2z+1=0, so start with z=-1/2. In some cases,
- there may be multiple critical values, so they all should be tested.
-
- Critical points are important because by a result of Fatou: every attracting
- cycle for a polynomial or rational function attracts at least one critical
- point. Thus, testing the critical point shows if there is any stable
- attractive cycle. See also:
-
- 1. M. Frame and J. Robertson, A Generalized Mandelbrot Set and the
- Role of Critical Points, _Computers and Graphics_ 16, 1 (1992), pp. 35-40.
-
- Note that you can precompute the first Mandelbrot iteration by starting with
- z=c instead of z=0, since 0^2+c=c.
-
- Q6d: What are the bounds of the Mandelbrot set? When does it diverge?
- A6d: The Mandelbrot set lies within |c|<=2. If |z| exceeds 2, the z sequence
- diverges. Proof: if |z|>2, then |z^2+c|>= |z^2|-|c|> 2|z|-|c|. If
- |z|>=|c|, then 2|z|-|c|> |z|. So, if |z|>2 and |z|>=c, |z^2+c|>|z|, so the
- sequence is increasing. (It takes a bit more work to prove it is unbounded
- and diverges.) Also, note that |z1=c, so if |c|>2, the sequence diverges.
-
- Q6e: How can I speed up Mandelbrot set generation?
- A6e: See the information on speed below (see "Fractint"). Also see:
-
- 1. R. Rojas, A Tutorial on Efficient Computer Graphic Representations of the
- Mandelbrot Set, _Computers and Graphics_ 15, 1 (1991), pp. 91-100.
-
- Q6f: What is the area of the Mandelbrot set?
- A6f: Ewing and Schober computed an area estimate using 240,000 terms of the
- Laurent series. The result is 1.7274... However, the Laurent series
- converges very slowly, so this is a poor estimate. A project to measure the
- area via counting pixels on a very dense grid shows an area around 1.5066.
- (Contact mrob@world.std.com for more information.) Hill and Fisher used
- distance estimation techniques to rigorously bound the area and found
- the area is between 1.503 and 1.5701.
-
- References:
-
- 1. J. H. Ewing and G. Schober, The Area of the Mandelbrot Set, _Numer.
- Math._ 61 (1992), pp. 59-72.
-
- 2. Y. Fisher and J. Hill, Bounding the Area of the Mandelbrot Set,
- _Numerische Mathematik_, . (Submitted for publication). Available by
- ftp: legendre.ucsd.edu:/pub/Research/Fischer/area.ps.Z ..
-
- Q6g: What can you say about the structure of the Mandelbrot set?
- A6g: Most of what you could want to know is in Branner's article in _Chaos
- and Fractals: The Mathematics Behind the Computer Graphics_.
-
- Note that the Mandelbrot set in general is _not_ strictly self-similar; the
- tiny copies of the Mandelbrot set are all slightly different, mainly because
- of the thin threads connecting them to the main body of the Mandelbrot set.
- However, the Mandelbrot set is quasi-self-similar. The Mandelbrot set is
- self-similar under magnification in neighborhoods of Misiurewicz points,
- however (e.g. -.1011+.9563i). The Mandelbrot set is conjectured to be
- self- similar around generalized Feigenbaum points (e.g. -1.401155 or
- -.1528+1.0397i), in the sense of converging to a limit set. References:
-
- 1. T. Lei, Similarity between the Mandelbrot set and Julia Sets,
- _Communications in Mathematical Physics_ 134 (1990), pp. 587-617.
-
- 2. J. Milnor, Self-Similarity and Hairiness in the Mandelbrot Set, in
- _Computers in Geometry and Topology_, M. Tangora (editor), Dekker,
- New York, pp. 211-257.
-
- The "external angles" of the Mandelbrot set (see Douady and Hubbard or
- brief sketch in "Beauty of Fractals") induce a Fibonacci partition onto it.
-
- The boundary of the Mandelbrot set and the Julia set of a generic c in M
- have Hausdorff dimension 2 and have topological dimension 1. The proof
- is based on the study of the bifurcation of parabolic periodic points. (Since
- the boundary has empty interior, the topological dimension is less than 2,
- and thus is 1.) Reference:
-
- 1. M. Shishikura, The Hausdorff Dimension of the Boundary of the
- Mandelbrot Set and Julia Sets, The paper is available from anonymous ftp:
- math.sunysb.edu:/preprints/ims91-7.ps.Z [129.49.18.1]..
-
- Q6h: Is the Mandelbrot set connected?
- A6h: The Mandelbrot set is simply connected. This follows from a theorem
- of Douady and Hubbard that there is a conformal isomorphism from the
- complement of the Mandelbrot set to the complement of the unit disk. (In
- other words, all equipotential curves are simple closed curves.) It is
- conjectured that the Mandelbrot set is locally connected, and thus pathwise
- connected, but this is currently unproved.
-
- Connectedness definitions:
-
- Connected: X is connected if there are no proper closed subsets A and B of
- X such that A union B = X, but A intersect B is empty. I.e. X is connected
- if it is a single piece.
-
- Simply connected: X is simply connected if it is connected and every closed
- curve in X can be deformed in X to some constant closed curve. I.e. X is
- simply connected if it has no holes.
-
- Locally connected: X is locally connected if for every point p in X, for
- every open set U containing p, there is an open set V containing p and
- contained in the connected component of p in U. I.e. X is locally connected
- if every connected component of every open subset is open in X.
-
- Arcwise (or path) connected: X is arcwise connected if every two points in
- X are joined by an arc in X.
-
- (The definitions are from _Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics_.)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Julia sets
-
- Q7a: What is the difference between the Mandelbrot set and a Julia set?
- A7a: The Mandelbrot set iterates z^2+c with z starting at 0 and varying c.
- The Julia set iterates z^2+c for fixed c and varying starting z values. That
- is, the Mandelbrot set is in parameter space (c-plane) while the Julia set is
- in dynamical or variable space (z-plane).
-
- Q7b: What is the connection between the Mandelbrot set and Julia sets?
- A7b: Each point c in the Mandelbrot set specifies the geometric structure of
- the corresponding Julia set. If c is in the Mandelbrot set, the Julia set
- will be connected. If c is not in the Mandelbrot set, the Julia set will be a
- Cantor dust.
-
- You can see an example Julia set on the WWW at
- gopher://life.anu.edu.au:70/I9/.WWW/complex_systems/julia.gif .
-
- Q7c: How is a Julia set actually computed?
- A7c: The Julia set can be computed by iteration similar to the Mandelbrot
- computation. The only difference is that the c value is fixed and the
- initial z value varies.
-
- Alternatively, points on the boundary of the Julia set can be computed
- quickly by using inverse iterations. This technique is particularly
- useful when the Julia set is a Cantor Set. In inverse iteration, the
- equation z1 = z0^2+c is reversed to give an equation for
- z0: z0 = +- sqrt(z1-c). By applying this equation repeatedly, the
- resulting points quickly converge to the Julia set boundary. (At each
- step, either the postive or negative root is randomly selected.) This
- is a nonlinear iterated function system. In pseudocode: z = 1 (or any
- value) loop
- if (random number < .5) then
- z = sqrt(z-c)
- else
- z =-sqrt(z-c)
- endif
- plot z
- end loop
-
- Q7d: What are some Julia set facts?
- A7d: The Julia set of any rational map of degree greater than one is perfect
- (hence in particular uncountable and nonempty), completely invariant, equal
- to the Julia set of any iterate of the function, and also is the boundary
- of the basin of attraction of every attractor for the map.
-
- Julia set references:
-
- 1. A. F. Beardon, _Iteration of Rational Functions : Complex Analytic
- Dynamical Systems_, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1991.
-
- 2. P. Blanchard, Complex Analytic Dynamics on the Riemann Sphere, _Bull. of
- the Amer. Math. Soc_ 11, 1 (July 1984), pp. 85-141. This article is a
- detailed discussion of the mathematics of iterated complex functions. It
- covers most things about Julia sets of rational polynomial functions.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Complex arithmetic and quaternion arithmetic
-
- Q8a: How does complex arithmetic work?
- A8a: It works mostly like regular algebra with a couple additional formulas:
- (note: a,b are reals, x,y are complex, i is the square root of -1)
- Powers of i: i^2 = -1
- Addition: (a+i*b)+(c+i*d) = (a+c)+i*(b+d)
- Multiplication: (a+i*b)*(c+i*d) = a*c-b*d + i*(a*d+b*c)
- Division: (a+i*b)/(c+i*d) = (a+i*b)*(c-i*d)/(c^2+d^2)
- Exponentiation: exp(a+i*b) = exp(a)(cos(b)+i*sin(b))
- Sine: sin(x) = (exp(i*x)-exp(-i*x))/(2*i)
- Cosine: cos(x) = (exp(i*x)+exp(-i*x))/2
- Magnitude: |a+i*b= sqrt(a^2+b^2)
- Log: log(a+i*b) = log(|a+i*b|)+i*arctan(b/a) (Note: log is multivalued.)
- Log (polar coordinates): log(r*e^(i*theta)) = log(r)+i*theta
- Complex powers: x^y = exp(y*log(x))
- DeMoivre's theorem: x^a = r^a * [cos(a*theta) + i * sin(a*theta)]
- More details can be found in any complex analysis book.
-
- Q8b: How does quaternion arithmetic work?
- A8b: Quaternions have 4 components (a+ib+jc+kd) compared to the two of
- complex numbers. Operations such as addition and multiplication can be
- performed on quaternions, but multiplication is not commutative..
- Quaternions satisfy the rules i^2=j^2=k^2=-1, ij=-ji=k, jk=-kj=i, ki=-ik=j.
-
- See:
-
- http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/Datorsys/Project/qjulia/index.html
- QJulia page (quaternions) (Henrik Engstrvm)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Logistic equation
-
- Q9: What is the logistic equation?
- A9: It models animal populations. The equation is x -> c*x*(1-x), where x
- is the population (between 0 and 1) and c is a growth constant. Iteration of
- this equation yields the period doubling route to chaos. For c between
- 1 and 3, the population will settle to a fixed value. At 3, the period
- doubles to 2; one year the population is very high, causing a low population
- the next year, causing a high population the following year. At 3.45, the
- period doubles again to 4, meaning the population has a four year cycle.
- The period keeps doubling, faster and faster, at 3.54, 3.564, 3.569, and
- so forth. At 3.57, chaos occurs; the population never settles to a fixed
- period. For most c values between 3.57 and 4, the population is chaotic,
- but there are also periodic regions. For any fixed period, there is some
- c value that will yield that period. See "An Introduction to Chaotic
- Dynamical Systems" for more information.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Feigenbaum's constant
-
- Q10: What is Feigenbaum's constant?
- A10: In a period doubling cascade, such as the logistic equation, consider
- the parameter values where period-doubling events occur (e.g.
- r[1]=3, r[2]=3.45, r[3]=3.54, r[4]=3.564...). Look at the ratio of distances
- between consecutive doubling parameter values; let
- delta[n] = (r[n+1]-r[n])/(r[n+2]-r[n+1]). Then the limit as n goes to
- infinity is Feigenbaum's (delta) constant.
-
- Based on independent computations by Jay Hill and Keith Briggs, it has the
- value 4.669201609102990671853... Note: several books have published
- incorrect values starting 4.66920166...; the last repeated 6 is a
- typographical error.
-
- The interpretation of the delta constant is as you approach chaos, each
- periodic region is smaller than the previous by a factor approaching 4.669...
- Feigenbaum's constant is important because it is the same for any function
- or system that follows the period-doubling route to chaos and has a one-
- hump quadratic maximum. For cubic, quartic, etc. there are different
- Feigenbaum constants.
-
- Feigenbaum's alpha constant is not as well known; it has the value
- 2.502907875095. This constant is the scaling factor between x values at
- bifurcations. Feigenbaum says, "Asymptotically, the separation of adjacent
- elements of period-doubled attractors is reduced by a constant value [alpha]
- from one doubling to the next". If d[n] is the algebraic distance between
- nearest elements of the attractor cycle of period 2^n, then d[n]/d[n+1]
- converges to -alpha.
-
- References:
-
- 1. K. Briggs, How to calculate the Feigenbaum constants on your PC,
- _Aust. Math. Soc. Gazette_ 16 (1989), p. 89.
-
- 2. K. Briggs, A precise calculation of the Feigenbaum constants,
- _Mathematics of Computation_ 57 (1991), pp. 435-439.
-
- 3. K. Briggs, G. R. W. Quispel and C. Thompson, Feigenvalues for
- Mandelsets, _J. Phys._ A24 (1991), pp. 3363-3368.
-
- 4. M. Feigenbaum, The Universal Metric Properties of Nonlinear
- Transformations, _J. Stat. Phys_ 21 (1979), p. 69.
-
- 5. M. Feigenbaum, Universal Behaviour in Nonlinear Systems, _Los
- Alamos Sci_ 1 (1980), pp. 1-4. Reprinted in _Universality in Chaos_ ,
- compiled by P. Cvitanovic.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Iterated function systems and compression
-
- Q11a: What is an iterated function system (IFS)?
- A11a: If a fractal is self-similar, you can specify mappings that map the
- whole onto the parts. Iteration of these mappings will result in convergence
- to the fractal attractor. An IFS consists of a collection of these (usually
- affine) mappings. If a fractal can be described by a small number of
- mappings, the IFS is a very compact description of the fractal. An iterated
- function system is By taking a point and repeatedly applying these mappings
- you end up with a collection of points on the fractal. In other words,
- instead of a single mapping x -> F(x), there is a collection of (usually
- affine) mappings, and random selection chooses which mapping is used.
-
- For instance, the Sierpinski triangle can be decomposed into three self-
- similar subtriangles. The three contractive mappings from the full triangle
- onto the subtriangles forms an IFS. These mappings will be of the form
- "shrink by half and move to the top, left, or right".
-
- Iterated function systems can be used to make things such as fractal ferns
- and trees and are also used in fractal image compression. _Fractals
- Everywhere_ by Barnsley is mostly about iterated function systems.
-
- The simplest algorithm to display an IFS is to pick a starting point,
- randomly select one of the mappings, apply it to generate a new point, plot
- the new point, and repeat with the new point. The displayed points will
- rapidly converge to the attractor of the IFS.
-
- An IFS fractal fern can be viewed on the WWW at
- gopher://life.anu.edu.au:70/I9/.WWW/complex_systems/fern.gif .
-
- Frank Rousells hyperindex of clickable/retrievable IFS images:
- ftp://ftp.cnam.fr/pub/Fractals/ifs/Index.gif
-
- Q11b: What is the state of fractal compression?
- A11b: Fractal compression is quite controversial, with some people claiming
- it doesn't work well, and others claiming it works wonderfully. The basic
- idea behind fractal image compression is to express the image as an iterated
- function system (IFS). The image can then be displayed quickly and
- zooming will generate infinite levels of (synthetic) fractal detail. The
- problem is how to efficiently generate the IFS from the image.
-
- Barnsley, who invented fractal image compression, has a patent on fractal
- compression techniques (4,941,193). Barnsley's company, Iterated Systems
- Inc, has a line of products including a Windows viewer, compressor,
- magnifier program, and hardware assist board.
-
- Fractal compression is covered in detail in the comp.compression FAQ file
- (See "compression-FAQ"). Ftp: rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/comp.compression
- [18.181.0.24].
-
- Three books describing fractal image compression are:
-
- 1. M. Barnsley, _Fractals Everywhere_, Academic Press Inc., 1988. ISBN 0-
- 12-079062-9. This is an excellent text book on fractals. This is probably
- the best book for learning about the math underpinning fractals. It is also a
- good source for new fractal types.
-
- 2. M. Barnsley and L. Hurd, _Fractal Image Compression_, Jones and
- Bartlett. ISBN 0-86720-457-5. This book explores the science of the fractal
- transform in depth. The authors begin with a foundation in information
- theory and present the technical background for fractal image compression.
- In so doing, they explain the detailed workings of the fractal transform.
- Algorithms are illustrated using source code in C.
- .
- 3. Y. Fisher (Ed), _Fractal Image Compression: Theory and Application_.
- Springer Verlag, 1995.
-
- The October 1993 issue of Byte discussed fractal compression. You can ftp
- sample code: ftp.uu.net:/published/byte/93oct/fractal.exe .
-
- An introductory paper is:
-
- 1. A. E. Jacquin, Image Coding Based on a Fractal Theory of Iterated
- Contractive Image Transformation, _IEEE Transactions on Image
- Processing_, January 1992.
-
- A fractal decompression demo program is available by anonymous ftp:
- lyapunov.ucsd.edu:/pub/inls-ucsd/fractal-2.0 [132.239.86.10].
-
- Another MS-DOS compression demonstration program is available by
- anonymous ftp: lyapunov.ucsd.edu:/pub/young-fractal .
-
- A site with information on fractal compression is
- legendre.ucsd.edu:/pub/Research/Fisher . On the WWW you can access
- file://legendre.ucsd.edu/pub/Research/Fisher/fractal.html .
-
- Many fractal image compression papers are available from
- ftp.informatik.uni-freiburg.de:/documents/papers/fractal [132.230.150.1].
- A review of the literature is in Guide.ps.gz. See the README
- file for an overview of the available documents.
-
- Other references:
-
- http://dip1.ee.uct.ac.za/fractal.bib.html "Fractal Compression
- Bibliography"
-
- http://inls.ucsd.edu/y/Fractals/ Fractal Compression (Yuval Fisher )
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Chaotic demonstrations
-
- Q12a: How can you make a chaotic oscillator?
- A12a: Two references are:
-
- 1. T. S. Parker and L. O. Chua, Chaos: a tutorial for engineers,
- _Proceedings IEEE_ 75 (1987), pp. 982-1008.
-
- 2. _New Scientist_, June 30, 1990, p. 37.
-
- Q12b: What are laboratory demonstrations of chaos?
- A12b: Robert Shaw at UC Santa Cruz experimented with chaos in dripping
- taps. This is described in:
-
- 1. J. P. Crutchfield, Chaos, _Scientific American_ 255, 6 (Dec. 1986), pp.
- 38-49.
-
- 2. I. Stewart, _Does God Play Dice?: the Mathematics of Chaos_,
- B. Blackwell, New York, 1989.
-
- Two references to other laboratory demonstrations are:
-
- 1. K. Briggs, Simple Experiments in Chaotic Dynamics, _American Journal
- of Physics_ 55, 12 (Dec 1987), pp. 1083-1089.
-
- 2. J. L. Snider, Simple Demonstration of Coupled Oscillations, _American
- Journal of Physics_ 56, 3 (Mar 1988), p. 200.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: L-Systems
-
- Q13: What are L-systems?
- A13: A L-system or Lindenmayer system is a formal grammar for
- generating strings. (That is, it is a collection of rules such as replace
- X with XYX.) By recursively applying the rules of the L-system to an
- initial string, a string with fractal structure can be created. Interpreting
- this string as a set of graphical commands allows the fractal to be displayed.
- L-systems are very useful for generating realistic plant structures.
-
- Some references are:
-
- 1. P. Prusinkiewicz and J. Hanan, _Lindenmayer Systems, Fractals, and
- Plants_, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1989.
-
- 2. P. Prusinkiewicz and A. Lindenmayer, _The Algorithmic Beauty of
- Plants_, Springer-Verlag, NY, 1990. ISBN 0-387-97297-8. A very good
- book on L-systems, which can be used to model plants in a very realistic
- fashion. The book contains many pictures.
-
- More information can be obtained via the WWW at:
-
- http://life.anu.edu.au/complex_systems/tutorial2.html Tutorial
-
- gopher://life.anu.edu.au:70/I9/.WWW/complex_systems/leaf.gif L-system
- leaf
-
- http://hill.lut.ac.uk:80/TestStuff/trees/ 3 Dim. L-system Tree program
- (P.J.Drinkwater)
-
- http://www.geom.umn.edu/pix/archive/subjects/L-systems.html L-system
- images.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Fractal music
-
- Q14: What is some information on fractal music?
- A14: One fractal recording is "The Devil's Staircase: Composers and
- Chaos" on the Soundprint label.
-
- Some references, many from an unpublished article by Stephanie Mason,
- are:
-
- 1. R. Bidlack, Chaotic Systems as Simple (But Complex) Compositional
- Algorithms, _Computer Music Journal_, Fall 1992.
-
- 2. C. Dodge, A Musical Fractal, _Computer Music Journal_ 12, 13 (Fall
- 1988), p. 10.
-
- 3. K. J. Hsu and A. Hsu, Fractal Geometry of Music, _Proceedings of the
- National Academy of Science, USA_ 87 (1990), pp. 938-941.
-
- 4. K. J. Hsu and A. Hsu, Self-similatrity of the '1/f noise' called music.,
- _Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA_ 88 (1991), pp.
- 3507-3509.
-
- 5. C. Pickover, _Mazes for the Mind: Computers and the Unexpected_, St.
- Martin's Press, New York, 1992.
-
- 6. P. Prusinkiewicz, Score Generation with L-Systems, _International
- Computer Music Conference 86 Proceedings_, 1986, pp. 455-457.
-
- 7. _Byte_ 11, 6 (June 1986), pp. 185-196.
-
- An IBM-PC program for fractal music is available at
- ftp://spanky.triumf.ca in [pub.fractals.programs.ibmpc] WTF23.ZIP.
- [142.90.112.1]
-
- A fractal music C++ package is available at
- http://neural.hampshire.edu:10001/~gzenie/inSanity.html .
-
- Also, it may b helpful to access:
-
- http://www-ks.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/people/schulz/fmusic
- The Fractal Music Project (Claus-Dieter Schulz)
-
- http://www.ccsr.uiuc.edu/People/gmk/Projects/ChuaSoundMusic/ChuaSoundMusic.html
- Chua's Oscillator: Applications of Chaos to Sound and Music
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Fractal mountains
-
- Q15: How are fractal mountains generated?
- A15: Usually by a method such as taking a triangle, dividing it into 3
- subtriangles, and perturbing the center point. This process is then repeated
- on the subtriangles. This results in a 2-d table of heights, which can then
- be rendered as a 3-d image. One reference is:
-
- 1. M. Ausloos, _Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A_ 400 (1985), pp. 331-350.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Plasma clouds
-
- Q16: What are plasma clouds?
- A16: They are a Fractint fractal and are similar to fractal mountains.
- Instead of a 2-d table of heights, the result is a 2-d table of intensities.
- They are formed by repeatedly subdividing squares.
-
- Network resources:
-
- http://climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/~cahalan/FractalClouds/FractalClouds.html
- Fractal Clouds Reference (calahan@clouds.gsfc.nasa.gov)
-
- http://ivory.nosc.mil/html/trancv/html/cloud-fract.html
- Fractal generated clouds (cahalan@clouds.gsfc.nasa.gov)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Lyapunov fractals
-
- Q17a: Where are the popular periodically-forced Lyapunov fractals described?
- A17a: See:
-
- 1. A. K. Dewdney, Leaping into Lyapunov Space, _Scientific American_,
- Sept.
- 1991, pp. 178-180.
-
- 2. M. Markus and B. Hess, Lyapunov Exponents of the Logistic Map with
- Periodic Forcing, _Computers and Graphics_ 13, 4 (1989), pp. 553-558.
-
- 3. M. Markus, Chaos in Maps with Continuous and Discontinuous
- Maxima, _Computers in Physics_, Sep/Oct 1990, pp. 481-493.
-
- Q17b: What are Lyapunov exponents?
- A17b:
-
- Lyapunov exponents quantify the amount of linear stability or instability of
- an attractor, or an asymptotically long orbit of a dynamical system. There
- are as many lyapunov exponents as there are dimensions in the state space
- of the system, but the largest is usually the most important.
-
- Given two initial conditions for a chaotic system, a and b, which are close
- together, the average values obtained in successive iterations for a and b
- will differ by an exponentially increasing amount. In other words, the two
- sets of numbers drift apart exponentially. If this is written e^(n*(lambda))
- for n iterations, then e^(lambda) is the factor by which the distance between
- closely related points becomes stretched or contracted in one iteration.
- Lambda is the Lyapunov exponent. At least one Lyapunov exponent must
- be positive in a chaotic system. A simple derivation is available in:
-
- 1. H. G. Schuster, _Deterministic Chaos: An Introduction_, Physics
- Verlag, 1984.
-
- Q17c: How can Lyapunov exponents be calculated?
- A17c: For the common periodic forcing pictures, the lyapunov exponent is:
- lambda = limit as N->infinity of 1/N times sum from n=1 to N of
- log2(abs(dx sub n+1 over dx sub n))
-
- In other words, at each point in the sequence, the derivative of the
- iterated equation is evaluated. The Lyapunov exponent is the average
- value of the log of the derivative. If the value is negative, the iteration
- is stable. Note that summing the logs corresponds to multiplying the
- derivatives; if the product of the derivatives has magnitude < 1, points
- will get pulled closer together as they go through the iteration.
-
- MS-DOS and Unix programs for estimating Lyapunov exponents from
- short time series are available by ftp: lyapunov.ucsd.edu:/pub/ncsu .
-
- Computing Lyapunov exponents in general is more difficult. Some
- references are:
-
- 1. H. D. I. Abarbanel, R. Brown and M. B. Kennel, Lyapunov Exponents
- in Chaotic Systems: Their importance and their evaluation using observed
- data, _International Journal of Modern Physics B_ 56, 9 (1991), pp. 1347-
- 1375.
-
- 2. A. K. Dewdney, Leaping into Lyapunov Space, _Scientific American_,
- Sept. 1991, pp. 178-180.
-
- 3. M. Frank and T. Stenges, _Journal of Economic Surveys_ 2 (1988), pp.
- 103- 133.
-
- 4. T. S. Parker and L. O. Chua, _Practical Numerical Algorithms for
- Chaotic Systems_, Springer Verlag, 1989.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Fractal items
-
- Q18: Where can I get fractal T-shirts and posters?
- A18: One source is Art Matrix, P.O. box 880, Ithaca, New York, 14851, 1-
- 800- PAX-DUTY. Another source is Media Magic; they sell many fractal
- posters, calendars, videos, software, t-shirts, ties, and a huge variety of
- books on fractals, chaos, graphics, etc. Media Magic is at PO Box 598
- Nicasio, CA 94946, 415-662-2426. A third source is Ultimate Image; they
- sell fractal t- shirts, posters, gift cards, and stickers. Ultimate Image
- is at PO Box 7464, Nashua, NH 03060-7464. Another source is Dave Kliman
- (516)-625-1915, whose products are distributed through Spencer Gifts,
- Posterservice, 800 666 7654, and Scandecor International., and this spring,
- through JC Penny, featuring all-over fractal t-shirts. Cyber Fiber produces
- fractal silk scarves, t-shirts, and postcards. Contact Robin Lowenthal, Cyber
- Fiber, 4820 Gallatin Way, San Diego, CA 92117.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: How can I take photos of fractals?
-
- Q19: How can I take photos of fractals?
- A19: Noel Giffin gets good results with the following setup:
- Use 100 asa Kodak gold for prints or 64 asa for slides.
- Use a long lens (100mm) to flatten out the field of view and minimize
- screen curvature.
- Use f4 stop. Shutter speed must be longer than frame rate to get a complete
- image; 1/4 seconds works well.
- Use a tripod and cable release or timer to get a stable picture. The room
- should be completely blackened, with no light, to prevent glare and to
- prevent the monitor from showing up in the picture.
-
- You can also obtain high quality images by sending your targa or gif images
- to a commercial graphics imaging shop. They can provide much higher
- resolution images. Prices are about $10 for a 35mm slide or negative and
- about $50 for a high quality 4x5 negative.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 3-D fractals
-
- Q20: How can 3-D fractals be generated?
- A20: A common source for 3-D fractals is to compute Julia sets with
- quaternions instead of complex numbers. The resulting Julia set is four
- dimensional. By taking a slice through the 4-D Julia set (e.g. by fixing one
- of the coordinates), a 3-D object is obtained. This object can then be
- displayed using computer graphics techniques such as ray tracing.
-
- View Frank Rousells hyperindex of clickable/retrievable 3D images:
- ftp://ftp.cnam.fr/pub/Fractals/3D/Index.gif
-
- The papers to read on this are:
-
- 1. J. Hart, D. Sandin and L. Kauffman, Ray Tracing Deterministic 3-D
- Fractals, _SIGGRAPH_, 1989, pp. 289-296.
-
- 2. A. Norton, Generation and Display of Geometric Fractals in 3-D,
- _SIGGRAPH_, 1982, pp. 61-67.
-
- 3. A. Norton, Julia Sets in the Quaternions, _Computers and Graphics,_
- 13, 2 (1989), pp. 267-278. Two papers on cubic polynomials, which can
- be used to generate 4-D fractals:
-
- 1. B. Branner and J. Hubbard, The iteration of cubic polynomials, part I.,
- _Acta Math_ 66 (1988), pp. 143-206.
-
- 2. J. Milnor, Remarks on iterated cubic maps, This paper is available from
- anonymous ftp: math.sunysb.edu:/preprints/ims90-6.ps.Z . Published in
- 1991 SIGGRAPH Course Notes #14: Fractal Modeling in 3D Computer
- Graphics and Imaging.
-
- Instead of quaternions, you can of course use other functions. For instance,
- you could use a map with more than one parameter, which would generate
- a higher-dimensional fractal.
-
- Another way of generating 3-D fractals is to use 3-D iterated function
- systems (IFS). These are analogous to 2-D IFS, except they generate points
- in a 3-D space.
-
- A third way of generating 3-D fractals is to take a 2-D fractal such as the
- Mandelbrot set, and convert the pixel values to heights to generate a 3-D
- "Mandelbrot mountain". This 3-D object can then be rendered with normal
- computer graphics techniques.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Fractint
-
- Q21a: What is Fractint?
- A21a: Fractint is a very popular freeware (not public domain) fractal
- generator. There are DOS, Windows, OS/2, and Unix/X versions. The
- DOS version is the original version, and is the most up-to-date. There is a
- new Amiga version.
-
- Please note: sci.fractals is not a product support newsgroup for Fractint.
- Bugs in Fractint/Xfractint should usually go to the authors rather than being
- posted.
-
- Fractint is on many ftp sites. For example:
- DOS: ftp from wuarchive.wustl.edu:/systems/ibmpc/simtel/graphics
- [128.252.135.4]. The source is in the file frasr182.zip. The executable
- is in the file frain182.zip. (The suffix 182 will change as new versions
- are released.) Fractint is available on Compuserve: GO GRAPHDEV and look
- for FRAINT.EXE and FRASRC.EXE in LIB 4.
- There is a collection of map, parameter, etc. files for Fractint, called
- FracXtra. Ftp from wuarchive.wustl.edu:/systems/ibmpc/simtel/graphics.
- File is fracxtr5.zip.
- Windows: ftp to wuarchive.wustl.edu:/systems/ibmpc/simtel/window3 .
- The source is in the file wins1821.zip. The executable is in the file
- winf1821.zip.
- OS/2: available on Compuserve in its GRAPHDEV forum. The files are
- PM*.ZIP.
- These files are also available by ftp:
- ftp-os2.nmsu.edu:/pub/os2/2.0/graphics in pmfra2.zip.
- Unix: ftp to sprite.berkeley.edu [128.32.150.27]. The source is in the file
- xfract203.shar.Z. Note: sprite is an unreliable machine; if you can't
- connect to it, try again in a few hours, or try hijack.berkeley.edu.
- Xfractint is also available in LIB 4 of Compuserve's GO GRAPHDEV
- forum in XFRACT.ZIP.
- Macintosh: there is no Macintosh version of Fractint, although there are
- several people working on a port. It is possible to run Fractint on the
- Macintosh if you use Insignia Software's SoftAT, which is a PC AT
- emulator.
- Amiga: There is an Amiga version at
- wuarchive.wustl.edu:/pub/aminet/gfx/fract .
-
- For European users, these files are available from ftp.uni-koeln.de. If you
- can't use ftp, see the mail server information below.
-
- Q21b: How does Fractint achieve its speed?
- A21b: Fractint's speed (such as it is) is due to a combination of:
-
- 1. Using fixed point math rather than floating point where possible (huge
- improvement for non-coprocessor machine, small for 486's).
-
- 2. Exploiting symmetry of the fractal.
-
- 3. Detecting nearly repeating orbits, avoid useless iteration (e.g. repeatedly
- iterating 0^2+0 etc. etc.).
-
- 4. Reducing computation by guessing solid areas (especially the "lake"
- area).
-
- 5. Using hand-coded assembler in many places.
-
- 6. Obtaining both sin and cos from one 387 math coprocessor instruction.
-
- 7. Using good direct memory graphics writing in 256-color modes.
-
- The first four are probably the most important. Some of these introduce
- errors, usually quite acceptable.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Fractal software
-
- Q22a: Where can I obtain software packages to generate fractals?
- A22a:
- For X windows:
- xmntns and xlmntn: these generate fractal mountains. They can be obtained
- from ftp: ftp.uu.net:/usenet/comp.sources.x/volume8/xmntns
- [137.39.1.9].
- xfroot: generates a fractal root window.
- xmartin: generates a Martin hopalong root window.
- xmandel: generates Mandelbrot/Julia sets.
- xfroot, xmartin, xmandel are part of the X11 distribution.
- lyap: generates Lyapunov exponent images. Ftp from:
- ftp.uu.net:/usenet/comp.sources.x/volume17/lyapunov-xlib .
- spider: Uses Thurston's algorithm for computing postcritically finite
- polynomials, draws Mandelbrot and Julia sets using the Koebe
- algorithm, and draws Julia set external angles. Ftp from:
- lyapunov.ucsd.edu:pub/inls-ucsd/spider .
- xfractal: fractal drawing program. Ftp from: clio.rz.uni-
- duesseldorf.de:/X11/uploads [134.99.128.3].
-
- Distributed X systems:
- MandelSpawn: computes Mandelbrot/Julia sets on a network of
- machines. Ftp
- from: export.lcs.mit.edu:/contrib [18.24.0.12] or
- funic.funet.fi:/pub/X11/contrib [128.214.6.100] in mandelspawn-
- 0.06.tar.Z.
- gnumandel: computes Mandelbrot images on a network. Ftp from:
- informatik.tu-muenchen.de:/pub/GNU/gnumandel [131.159.0.110].
-
- For SunView:
- Mandtool: A Mandelbrot computing program. Ftp from:
- spanky.triumf.ca:/fractals/programs/mandtool ; code is in M_TAR.Z .
-
- For Unix/C:
- lsys: generates L-systems as PostScript or other textual output. No
- graphical interface at present. (in C++) Ftp from:
- ftp.cs.unc.edu:/pub/leech/lsys.tar.Z .
- lyapunov: generates PGM Lyapunov exponent images. Ftp from:
- ftp.uu.net:/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume23/lyapuov . SPD: contains
- generators for fractal mountain, tree, recursive tetrahedron. Ftp
- from: princeton.edu:/pub/Graphics [128.112.128.1].
- Fractal Studio: Mandelbrot set program; handles distributed computing.
- Ftp from archive.cs.umbc.edu:/pub/peter/fractal-studio
- [130.85.100.53].
- Xmountains: An X11-based fractal landscape generator. Ftp from
- ftp.epcc.ed.ac.uk:/pub/personal/spb/xmountains .
-
- For Mac:
- LSystem, 3D-L-System, IFS, FracHill, Mandella and a bunch of others are
- available from uceng.uc.edu:/pub/wuarchive/edu/math/mac/fractals
- [129.137.189.1] or wuarchive.wustl.edu:/edu/math/mac/fractals .
- (These are also available in New Zealand at ccu1.auckland.ac.nz.)
- fractal-wizard.hqx, julias-dream-107.hqx, mandella-87.hqx, and others are
- under app in the info-mac archive: sumex-aim.stanford.edu:/info-mac
- [36.44.0.6], or a mirror such as
- plaza.aarnet.edu.au:/micros/mac/info-mac [139.130.4.6].
- mandel-tv: a very fast Mandelbrot generator. Under sci at info-mac.
- There are also commercial programs, such as IFS Explorer and Fractal Clip
- Art, which are published by Koyn Software (314) 878-9125.
-
- For NeXT:
- Lyapunov: generates Lyapunov exponent images. Ftp from:
- nova.cc.purdue.edu:/pub/next/2.0-release/source .
-
- For MSDOS:
- DEEPZOOM: a high-precision Mandelbrot program for displaying highly zoomed
- fractals. Ftp from spanky.triumf.ca [142.90.112.1] in
- [pub.fractals.programs.ibmpc] depzm13.zip.
- Fractal WitchCraft: a very fast fractal design program. Ftp from:
- garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/demo/fw1-08.zip [128.214.87.1].
- CAL: generates more than 15 types of fractals including Mandelbrot,
- Lyapunov, IFS, user-defined formulas, logistic equation, and
- quaternion julia sets. Ftp from: oak.oakland.edu:/pub/msdos/graphics
- [141.210.10.117] (or any other Simtel mirror) in frcal035.zip.
- Fractal Discovery Laboratory: designed for use in a science museum or
- school setting. The Lab has five sections: Art Gallery ( 72 images --
- Mandelbrots, Julias, Lyapunovs), Microscope ( 85 images -- Biomorph,
- Mandelbrot, Lyapunov, ...), Movies (165 images, 6 "movies":
- Mandelbrot Evolution, Splitting a Mini-Mandelbrot, Fractal UFO, ...),
- Tools (Gingerbreadman, Lorentz Equations, Fractal Ferns, von Koch
- Snowflake, Sierpinski Gasket), and Library (Dictionary, Books and
- Articles). Sampler available from Compuserver GRAPHDEV Lib 4 in
- DISCOV.ZIP, or send high-density disk and self-addressed, stamped
- envelope to: Earl F. Glynn, 10808 West 105th Street, Overland Park,
- Kansas 66214-3057.
- WL-Plot: plots functions including bifurcations and recursive relations.
- Ftp from wuarchive.wustl.edu:/edu/math/msdos/graphing in wlplt231.zip.
- There are many fractal programs available from
- oak.oakland.edu:/pub/msdos/graphics [141.210.10.117]:
- forb01a.zip: Displays orbits of Mandelbrot mapping. C/E/VGA
- fract30.arc: Mandelbrot/Julia set 2D/3D EGA/VGA Fractal Gen
- fractfly.zip: Create Fractal flythroughs with FRACTINT
- fdesi313.zip: Program to visually design IFS fractals
- frain182.zip: FRACTINT v18.1 EGA/VGA/XGA fractal generator
- frasr182.zip: C & ASM src for FRACTINT v18.1 fractal gen.
- frcal040.zip: Fractal drawing program: 15 formulae available
- frcaldmo.zip: 800x600x256 demo images for FRCAL030.ZIP
-
- For Windows:
- dy-syst.zip. This program explores Newton's method, Mandelbrot set, and
- Julia sets. Ftp from mathcs.emory.edu:/pub/riddle .
-
- For Amiga: (all entries marked "ff###" are .lzh files in the Fish Disk set
- available at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu:/amiga/fish and other sites)
- General Mandelbrot generators with many features: Mandelbrot (ff030),
- Mandel (ff218), Mandelbrot (ff239), TurboMandel (ff302), MandelBltiz
- (ff387), SMan (ff447), MandelMountains (ff383, in 3-D), MandelPAUG
- (ff452, MandFXP movies), MandAnim (ff461, anims), ApfelKiste (ff566,
- very fast), MandelSquare (ff588, anims)
- Mandelbrot and Julia sets generators: MandelVroom (ff215), Fractals
- (ff371, also Newton-R and other sets)
- With different algorithmic approaches (shown): FastGro (ff188, DLA),
- IceFrac (ff303, DLA), DEM (ff303, DEM), CPM (ff303, CPM in 3-D),
- FractalLab (ff391, any equation)
- Iterated Function System generators (make ferns, etc): FracGen (ff188,
- uses "seeds"), FCS (ff465), IFSgen (ff554), IFSLab (ff696, "Collage
- Theorem")
- Unique fractal types: Cloud (ff216, cloud surfaces), Fractal (ff052,
- terrain), IMandelVroom (strange attractor contours?), Landscape
- (ff554, scenery), Scenery (ff155, scenery), Plasma (ff573, plasma
- clouds)
- Fractal generators: PolyFractals (ff015), FFEX (ff549)
- Lyapunov fractals: Ftp from: ftp.luth.se:/pub/aminet/new/lyapunovia.lha
- [130.240.18.2].
- Commercial packages: Fractal Pro 5.0, Scenery Animator 2.0, Vista
- Professional, Fractuality (reviewed in April '93 Amiga User
- International).
- MathVISION 2.4. Generates Julia, Mandelbrot, and others. Includes
- software for image processing, complex arithmetic, data display,
- general equation evaluation. Available for $223 from Seven Seas
- Software, Box 1451, Port Townsend WA 98368.
-
- Software for computing fractal dimension:
- Fractal Dimension Calculator is a Macintosh program which uses the box-
- counting method to compute the fractal dimension of planar graphical
- objects. Ftp from:
- wuarchive.wustl.edu:/edu/math/mac/fractals/FDC.sea.hqx or
- wuarchive.wustl.edu:/packages/architec/Fractals/FDC.sea.hqx .
- FD3: estimates capacity, information, and correlation dimension from a
- list of points. It computes log cell sizes, counts, log counts, log
- of Shannon statistics based on counts, log of correlations based on
- counts, two-point estimates of the dimensions at all scales examined,
- and over-all least-square estimates of the dimensions. Ftp from:
- lyapunov.ucsd.edu:/pub/cal-state-stan [132.239.86.10]. Also look in
- lyapunov.ucsd.edu:/pub/inls-ucsd for an enhanced Grassberger-Procaccia
- algorithm for correlation dimension. A MS-DOS version of FP3 is
- available by request to gentry@altair.csustan.edu.
-
- Q22b: What are some supporting software/utilities?
- A22b: Some supporting software/utilities/sources are:
-
- http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/Computers/Software/Graphics/ Yahoo
- at Stanford University
-
- http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~swingree/eimaging.html Electronic Imaging
- Software
-
- http://www2.ncsu.edu/bae/people/faculty/walker/hotlist/graphics.html
- Graphics viewers, editors, utilities and info
-
- file://ftp.switch.ch/mirror/msdos/zip PKzip (pkz204g)
-
- file://ftp.switch.ch/mirror/msdos/windows3 WinZip
-
- ftp://ftp.cadence.com/pictures/index.html Compression Utilities
-
- file://gatekeeper.dec.com/.f/micro/msdos/win3/desktop/ima.zip Image'n Bits
-
- http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/FAQ/usenet/jpeg-FAQ/FAQ.html
- JPEG FAQ
-
- file://gatekeeper.dec.com/.f/micro/msdos/win3/desktop/lview31.zip Lview
-
- http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk:80/Ray.Tracing/ Ray Tracing
-
- ftp://oak.oakland.edu/pub/msdos/visbasic
- VBRUN (vbrun100.zip, vbrun200,zip, vbrun300.zip)
-
- file://gatekeeper.dec.com/.f/micro/msdos/win3/desktop/wingif14.zip WinGIF
-
- file://gatekeeper.dec.com/.f/micro/msdos/win3/desktop/winjp265.zip WinJPEG
-
- http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/archie.html Archie Search
-
- http://www.fagg.uni-lj.si/cgi-bin/shase Shareware Search Engine
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Ftp questions
-
- Q23a: How does anonymous ftp work?
- A23a: Anonymous ftp is a method of making files available to anyone on
- the Internet. In brief, if you are on a system with ftp (e.g. Unix), you
- type "ftp lyapunov.ucsd.edu", or whatever system you wish to access. You
- are prompted for your name and you reply "anonymous". You are prompted
- for your password and you reply with your email address. You then use
- ls" to list the files, "cd" to change directories, "get" to get files, an
- "quit" to exit. For example, you could say "cd /pub", "ls", "get README",
- and "quit"; this would get you the file "README". See the man page ftp(1)
- or ask someone at your site for more information.
-
- In this FAQ file, anonymous ftp addresses are given in the form
- name.of.machine:/pub/path [1.2.3.4]. The first part "name.of.machine" is
- the machine you must ftp to. If your machine cannot determine the host
- from the name, you can try the numeric Internet address: "ftp 1.2.3.4". The
- part after the colon: "/pub/path" is the file or directory to access once you
- are connected to the remote machine.
-
- Q23b: What if I can't use ftp to access files?
- A23b: If you don't have access to ftp because you are on a uucp/Fidonet/etc
- network there is an e-mail gateway at ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com that can
- retrieve the files for you. To get instructions on how to use the ftp gateway
- send a message to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com with one line containing the
- word 'help'.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Archived pictures
-
- Q24a: Where are fractal pictures archived?
- A24a: Fractal images (GIFs, etc.) used to be posted to alt.fractals.pictures;
- this newsgroup has been replaced by alt.binaries.pictures.fractals. Pictures
- from 1990 and 1991 are available via anonymous ftp:
- csus.edu:/pub/alt.fractals.pictures [130.86.90.1].
-
- Many Mandelbrot set images are available via anonymous ftp:
- ftp.ira.uka.de/pub/graphic/fractals [129.13.10.93].
-
- Fractal images including some recent alt.binaries.pictures.fractals images are
- archived at spanky.triumf.ca:/fractals [142.90.112.1]. This can also be
- accessed via WWW at http://spanky.triumf.ca/ .
-
- Some fractal images are available on the WWW at
- http://www.cnam.fr/fractals.html . These images are available by ftp:
- ftp.cnam.fr:/pub/Fractals . Fractal animations in MPG and FLI format are
- in ftp.cnam.fr:/pub/Fractals/anim or http://www.cnam.fr/fractals/anim.html .
- Another collection of fractal images is archived at
- ftp.maths.tcd.ie/pub/images/Computer [134.226.81.10]. Some fractal and
- other computer-generated images are available on the WWW at
- gopher://olt.et.tudelft.nl:1251/11/computer .
-
- A collection of interesting smoke- and flame-like jpeg iterated function
- system images is available on the WWW at
- http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/spot/web/images.html .
- Some images are also available from:
- ftp://hopeless.mess.cs.cmu.edu:/usr/spot/pub/film
-
- An algorithmic image gallery is available on the WWW at
- http://axpba1.ba.infn.it:8080/ .
-
- Other tutorials, resources, and galleries of images are:
-
- http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/fractals.htm Fractal Gallery (J. C. Sprott)
- http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Edu/Fractal/Fractal_Home.html Fractal Microscope
-
- http://is.dal.ca:3400/~adiggins/fractal/ Dalhousie University Fractal Gallery
-
- http://acat.anu.edu.au/contours.html "Contours of the Mind"
-
- http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/images/images.html Computer Graphics Gallery
-
- http://wwfs.aist-nara.ac.jp/shika/library/fractal/ SHiKA Fractal Image
- Library
-
- http://www.awa.com/sfff/sfff.html The San Francisco Fractal Factory.
-
- http://spanky.triumf.ca/www/spanky.html Spanky (Noel Giffin)
-
- http://www.cnam.fr/fractals.html Fractal Gallery (Frank Rousell)
-
- http://www.cnam.fr/fractals/anim.html Fractal Animations Gallery
- (Frank Rousell)
-
- http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/Art/Computer_Generated/Fractals/
- Stanford University Pointers
-
- http://axpba1.ba.infn.it:8080/ The Algorithmic Image Gallery
- (Giuseppe Zito)
-
- http://acat.anu.edu.au/works/gallery.html ANU Images
-
- http://www.geom.umn.edu/pix/archive/subjects/fractals.html
- Geometry Centre at University of Minnesota
-
- http://www.rain.org:80/~ayb/ Fractal Images (Art Baker) .
-
- http://acacia.ens.fr:8080/home/massimin/quat/quat.ang.html
- Quaternion Julia Set (Pascal Massimino)
-
- http://www.wri.com/~mathart/portfolio/SPD_Frac_portfolio.html
- 3d Fractals (Stewart Dickson) via Mathart.com.
-
- http://irc.umbc.edu/gallery/Fractals/grindex.html Fractal Gallery
-
- http://sashimi.wwa.com:80/mirror/gallerie/fracgall/fg941101.htm
- volume fg941101 (Alan Beck-Virtual Mirror)
-
- http://www.softsource.com/softsource/fractal.html Softsource .
-
- http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/People/rgrant/fav_pics.html
- Favourite Fractals (Ryan Grant)
-
- ftp://csus.edu/pub/alt.fractals.pictures A.F.P. Fractal FTP Archive
-
- http://hydra.cs.utwente.nl/~schol/video.html Eric Schol
-
- http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/home.html Mandelbrot and Julia Sets
- (David E. Joyce)
-
- http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/newton/newton.html Newton's method .
-
- http://www.vanderbilt.edu/VUCC/Misc/Art1/fractals.html
- Gratuitous Fractals (evans@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu)
-
- http://www.ccsf.caltech.edu/ismap/image.html Xmorphia
-
-
- Q24b: How do I view fractal pictures from alt.binaries.pictures.fractals?
- A24b: A detailed explanation is given in the "alt.binaries.pictures FAQ"
- (see "pictures-FAQ"). This is posted to the pictures newsgroups and is
- available by ftp: rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/pictures-FAQ
- [18.181.0.24].
-
- In brief, there is a series of things you have to do before viewing these
- posted images. It will depend a little on the system your working with, but
- there is much in common. Some newsreaders have features to automatically
- extract and decode images ready to display ("e" in trn) but if you don't you
- can use the following manual method:
-
- 1. Save/append all posted parts sequentially to one file.
-
- 2. Edit this file and delete all text segments except what is between the
- BEGIN-CUT and END-CUT portions. This means that BEGIN-CUT and
- END-CUT lines will disappear as well. There will be a section to remove
- for each file segment as well as the final END-CUT line. What is left in the
- file after editing will be bizarre garbage starting with begin 660
- imagename.GIF and then about 6000 lines all starting with the letter "M"
- followed by a final "end" line. This is called a uuencoded file.
-
- 3. You must uudecode the uuencoded file. There should be an appropriate
- utility at your site; "uudecode filename" should work under Unix. Ask a
- system person or knowledgeable programming type. It will decode the file and
- produce another file called imagename.GIF. This is the image file.
-
- 4. You must use another utility to view these GIF images. It must be
- capable of displaying color graphic images in GIF format. (If you get a JPG
- format file, you may have to convert it to a GIF file with yet another
- utility.) In the XWindows environment, you may be able to use "xv",
- "xview", or "xloadimage" to view GIF files. If you aren't using X, then
- you'll either have to find a comparable utility for your system or transfer
- your file to some other system. You can use a file transfer utility such
- as Kermit to transfer the binary file to an IBM-PC.
-
- An online resource that may be helpful is:
-
- ftp://ftp.cadence.com/pictures/index.html alt.binaries.pictures utilities
- archive
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Where can I obtain fractal papers?
-
- Q25: Where can I obtain fractal papers?
- A25: There are several Internet sites with fractal papers:
-
- There is an ftp archive site for preprints and programs on nonlinear
- dynamics and related subjects at: lyapunov.ucsd.edu:/pub [132.239.86.10].
- There are also articles on dynamics, including the IMS preprint series,
- available from math.sunysb.edu:/preprints [129.49.31.57].
-
- A collection of short papers on fractal formulas, drawing methods, and
- transforms is available by ftp: ftp.coe.montana.edu:/pub/fractals (this site
- hasn't been working lately).
-
- The WWW site http://inls.ucsd.edu/y/complex.html has
- some fractal papers; they are also available by
- ftp://legendre.ucsd.edu:/pub/Research/Fisher .
-
- The site life.anu.edu.au [150.203.38.74] has a collection of fractal
- programs, papers, information related to complex systems, and gopher and
- World Wide Web connections. The ftp path is:
- life.anu.edu.au:/pub/complex_systems . Look in fractals, tutorial, and
- anu92. The Word Wide Web access is:
- http://life.anu.edu.au/complex_systems/complex.html. The gopher path is:
- Name=BioInformatics gopher at ANU
- Host=life.anu.edu.au
- Type=1
- Port=70
- Path=1/complex_systems/fractals
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: How can I join the BITNET fractal discussion?
-
- Q26: How can I join the BITNET fractal discussion?
- A26: There is a fractal discussion on BITNET that uses an automated mail
- server that sends mail to a distribution list. (On some systems, the contents
- of FRAC-L appear in the Usenet newsgroup bit.listserv.frac-l.) To join the
- mailing list, send a message to listserv@gitvm1.gatech.edu or
- listserv@GITVM1 with the following line of text:
- SUBSCRIBE FRAC-L John Doe
- (where John Doe is replaced by your name)
- To unsubscribe, send the message:
- UNSUBSCRIBE FRAC-L or SIGNOFF FRAC-L (GLOBAL)
-
- Messages posted to frac-l are archived along with several files. The index
- of the archive may be obtained by sending email to:
- listserv@GITVM1.BITNET or listserv@GITVM1.GATECH.EDU
- with the sole line of text in the body: INDEX FRAC-L
-
- Files identified in the index (filelist) may then be retrieved by sending
- another message to the listserv with the line of text: GET filename
- (where filename is replaced by the exact name of a file given in the index).
-
- If there is any difficulty contact the listowner: Ermel Stepp
- (stepp@marshall.edu.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Complexity
-
- Q27: What is complexity?
- A27: Emerging paradigms of thought encompassing fractals, chaos,
- nonlinear science, dynamic systems, self-organization, artificial life,
- neural networks, and similar systems comprise the science of complexity.
- Several helpful online resources on complexity are:
-
- http://www.marshall.edu/~stepp/vri/irc/irc.html
- Institute for Research on Complexity
-
- The site life.anu.edu.au [150.203.38.74] has a collection of fractal
- programs, papers, information related to complex systems, and gopher and
- World Wide Web connections.
-
- The ftp path is life.anu.edu.au:/pub/complex_systems ; (look in
- fractals, tutorial, and anu92).
-
- The gopher path is:
- gopher://life.anu.edu.au:70/1/complex_systems/fractals
-
- The Word Wide Web access is
- http://life.anu.edu.au/complex_systems/complex.html.
-
- http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~ale/cplxsys.html Complex Systems
- (UPENN)
-
- http://jaguar.cssr.uiuc.edu/CCSRHome.html Complex Systems Research
- (UIUC)
-
- http://life.anu.edu.au/ci/ci,html Complexity International Journal or
- ftp://life.anu.edu.au/pub/complex_systems/ci
-
- ftp://xyz.lanl.gov/nlin-sys Nonlinear Science Preprints
-
- Nonlinear Science Preprints via emaiL:
- To subscribe to public bulletin board to receive announcements of the
- availability of preprints from Los Alamos National Laboratory, send email
- to nlin-sys@xyz.lanl.gov containing the sole line of text:
- subscribe your-real-name
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: References
-
- Q28a: What are some general references on fractals, chaos, and
- complexity?
- A28a: Some references are:
-
- M. Barnsley, _Fractals Everywhere_, Academic Press Inc., 1988. ISBN
- 0-12-079062-9. This is an excellent text book on fractals. This is probably
- the best book for learning about the math underpinning fractals. It is also a
- good source for new fractal types.
-
- M. Barnsley and L. Anson, _The Fractal Transform_, Jones and
- Bartlett, April, 1993. ISBN 0-86720-218-1. This book is a sequel to
- _Fractals Everywhere_. Without assuming a great deal of technical knowledge,
- the authors explain the workings of the Fractal Transform (tm). The Fractal
- Transform is the compression tool for storing high-quality images in a
- minimal amount of space on a computer. Barnsley uses examples and
- algorithms to explain how to transform a stored pixel image into its fractal
- representation.
-
- R. Devaney and L. Keen, eds., _Chaos and Fractals: The Mathematics
- Behind the Computer Graphics_, American Mathematical Society,
- Providence, RI, 1989. This book contains detailed mathematical
- descriptions of chaos, the Mandelbrot set, etc.
-
- R. L. Devaney, _An Introduction to Chaotic Dynamical Systems_,
- Addison- Wesley, 1989. ISBN 0-201-13046-7. This book introduces
- many of the basic concepts of modern dynamical systems theory and leads
- the reader to the point of current research in several areas. It goes
- into great detail on the exact structure of the logistic equation and
- other 1-D maps. The book is fairly mathematical using calculus and topology.
-
- R. L. Devaney, _Chaos, Fractals, and Dynamics_, Addison-Wesley,
- 1990. ISBN 0-201-23288-X. This is a very readable book. It introduces
- chaos fractals and dynamics using a combination of hands-on computer
- experimentation and precalculus math. Numerous full-color and black and
- white images convey the beauty of these mathematical ideas.
-
- R. Devaney, _A First Course in Chaotic Dynamical Systems, Theory
- and Experiment_, Addison Wesley, 1992. A nice undergraduate
- introduction to chaos and fractals.
-
- A. K. Dewdney, (1989, February). Mathematical Recreations. _Scientific
- American_, pp. 108-111.
-
- G. A. Edgar, _Measure Topology and Fractal Geometry_, Springer-
- Verlag Inc., 1990. ISBN 0-387-97272-2. This book provides the math
- necessary for the study of fractal geometry. It includes the background
- material on metric topology and measure theory and also covers topological
- and fractal dimension, including the Hausdorff dimension.
-
- K. Falconer, _Fractal Geometry: Mathematical Foundations and
- Applications_, Wiley, New York, 1990.
-
- J. Feder, _Fractals_, Plenum Press, New York, 1988. This book is
- recommended as an introduction. It introduces fractals from geometrical
- ideas, covers a wide variety of topics, and covers things such as time series
- and R/S analysis that aren't usually considered.
-
- Y. Fisher (Ed), _Fractal Image Compression: Theory and Application_.
- Springer Verlag, 1995.
-
- J. Gleick, _Chaos: Making a New Science_, Penguin, New York, 1987.
-
- B. Hao, ed., _Chaos_, World Scientific, Singapore, 1984. This is an
- excellent collection of papers on chaos containing some of the most
- significant reports on chaos such as ``Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow'' by
- E.N.Lorenz.
-
- H. Jurgens, H. O Peitgen, & D. Saupe. (1990, August).
- The Language of Fractals. _Scientific American_, pp. 60-67.
-
- H. Jurgens, H. O. Peitgen, H.O., & D. Saupe. (1992). _Chaos and
- Fractals: New Frontiers of Science_. New York: Springer-Verlag.
-
- S. Levy, _Artificial life : the quest for a new creation_, Pantheon
- Books, New York, 1992. This book takes off where Gleick left off. It
- looks at many of the same people and what they are doing post-Gleick.
-
- B. Mandelbrot, _The Fractal Geometry of Nature_, W. H. FreeMan,
- New York. ISBN 0-7167-1186-9. In this book Mandelbrot attempts to
- show that reality is fractal-like. He also has pictures of many different
- fractals.
-
- H. O. Peitgen and P. H. Richter, _The Beauty of Fractals_, Springer-
- Verlag, New York, 1986. ISBN 0-387-15851-0. This book has lots of
- nice pictures. There is also an appendix giving the coordinates and constants
- for the color plates and many of the other pictures.
-
- H. Peitgen and D. Saupe, eds., _The Science of Fractal Images_,
- Springer-Verlag, New York, 1988. ISBN 0-387-96608-0. This book
- contains many color and black and white photographs, high level math, and
- several pseudocoded algorithms.
-
- H. Peitgen, H. Juergens and D. Saupe, _Fractals for the Classroom_,
- Springer-Verlag, New York, 1992. These two volumes are aimed at
- advanced secondary school students (but are appropriate for others too),
- have lots of examples, explain the math well, and give BASIC programs.
-
- H. Peitgen, H. Juergens and D. Saupe, _Chaos and Fractals: New
- Frontiers of Science_, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1992.
-
- C. Pickover, _Computers, Pattern, Chaos, and Beauty: Graphics from
- an Unseen World_, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1990. This book
- contains a bunch of interesting explorations of different fractals.
-
- J. Pritchard, _The Chaos Cookbook: A Practical Programming Guide_,
- Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, 1992. ISBN 0-7506-0304-6. It contains
- type- in-and-go listings in BASIC and Pascal. It also eases you into
- some of the mathematics of fractals and chaos in the context of graphical
- experimentation. So it's more than just a type-and-see-pictures book, but
- rather a lab tutorial, especially good for those with a weak or rusty (or
- even nonexistent) calculus background.
-
- P. Prusinkiewicz and A. Lindenmayer, _The Algorithmic Beauty of
- Plants_, Springer-Verlag, NY, 1990. ISBN 0-387-97297-8. A very good
- book on L-systems, which can be used to model plants in a very realistic
- fashion. The book contains many pictures.
-
- M. Schroeder, _Fractals, Chaos, and Power Laws: Minutes from an
- Infinite Paradise_, W. H. Freeman, New York, 1991. This book contains a
- clearly written explanation of fractal geometry with lots of puns and word
- play.
-
- J. Sprott, _Strange Attractors: Creating Patterns in Chaos_, M&T
- Books (subsidary of Henry Holt and Co.), New York. " ISBN 1-55851-
- 298-5. This book describes a new method for generating beautiful fractal
- patterns by iterating simple maps and ordinary differential equations. It
- contains over 350 examples of such patterns, each producing a
- corresponding piece of fractal music. It also describes methods for
- visualizing objects in three and higher dimensions and explains how to
- produce 3-D stereoscopic images using the included red/blue glasses. The
- accompanying 3.5" IBM-PC disk contain source code in BASIC, C, C++,
- Visual BASIC for Windows, and QuickBASIC for Macintosh as well
- as a ready-to-run IBM-PC executable version of the program. Available for
- $39.95 + $3.00 shipping from M&T Books (1-800-628-9658).
-
- D. Stein, ed., _Proceedings of the Santa Fe Institute's Complex
- Systems Summer School_, Addison-Wesley, Redwood City, CA, 1988.
- See especially the first article by David Campbell: ``Introduction to
- nonlinear phenomena''.
-
- R. Stevens, _Fractal Programming in C_, M&T Publishing, 1989
- ISBN 1-55851-038-9. This is a good book for a beginner who wants to
- write a fractal program. Half the book is on fractal curves like the Hilbert
- curve and the von Koch snow flake. The other half covers the Mandelbrot,
- Julia, Newton, and IFS fractals.
-
- I. Stewart, _Does God Play Dice?: the Mathematics of Chaos_, B.
- Blackwell, New York, 1989.
-
- T. Wegner and M. Peterson, _Fractal Creations_, The Waite Group,
- 1991. This is the book describing the Fractint program.
-
- http:wwwrefs.html Web references to Julia and Mandelbrot sets
-
- http://alephwww.cern.ch/~zito/chep94sl/sd.html
- Dynamical Systems (G. Zito)
-
- http://alephwww.cern.ch/~zito/chep94sl/chep94sl.html
- Scanning huge number of events (G. Zito)
-
- http://www.nonlin.tu-muenchen.de/chaos/Dokumente/WiW/wiw.html
- The Who Is Who Handbook of Nonlinear Dynamics
-
- Q28b: What are some relevant journals?
- A28b: Some relevant journals are:
-
- "Chaos and Graphics" section in the quarterly journal _Computers and
- Graphics_. This contains recent work in fractals from the graphics
- perspective, and usually contains several exciting new ideas.
-
- "Mathematical Recreations" section by I. Stewart in _Scientific
- American_.
-
- _Fractal Report_. Reeves Telecommunication Labs. West Towan House,
- Porthtowan, TRURO, Cornwall TR4 8AX, U.K.
-
- _FRAC'Cetera_. This is a gazetteer of the world of fractals and related
- areas, supplied on IBM PC format HD disk. FRACTCetera is the home of FRUG -
- the Fractint User Group. For more information, contact:
- Jon Horner, Editor, FRAC'Cetera
- Le Mont Ardaine, Rue des Ardains, St. Peters
- Guernsey GY7 9EU
- Channel Islands, United Kingdom.
- Email: 100112,1700@compuserve.com
-
- _Fractals, An interdisciplinary Journal On The Complex Geometry of
- Nature_. This is a new journal published by World Scientific. B.B
- Mandelbrot is the Honorary Editor and T. Vicsek, M.F. Shlesinger, M.M
- Matsushita are the Managing Editors). The aim of this first international
- journal on fractals is to bring together the most recent developments in the
- research of fractals so that a fruitful interaction of the various approaches
- and scientific views on the complex spatial and temporal behavior could
- take place.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Notices
-
- Q29: Are there any special notices?
-
- NOTICE (from Michael Peters):
-
- HOP - Fractals in Motion
-
- opens the door to a completely new world of fractals!
-
- Based on almost 30 new Hopalong type formulas and loads of incredible
- special effects, it produces an unlimited variety of images/animations
- quite unlike anything you have seen before.
-
- HOP features Fractint-like parameter files, GIF read/write,
- MAP palette editor, a screensaver for DOS, Windows, and OS/2, and more.
- Math coprocessor (386 and above) and SuperVGA required
-
- "HOP was originally based on HOPALONG, the Barry Martin creation which
- was popularized by A.K. Dewdney in one of his Scientific American
- articles. The HOP authors have taken Martin's idea well beyond his
- original concept, and developed it to such a degree that you need to keep
- reminding yourself of its modest beginnings. This program illustrates
- compellingly how a fundamentally simple idea can be extended, through the
- use of various graphics techniques, into something far removed from its
- humble origins. Don't let the simple name fool you - this is serious,
- robust, user friendly, IMAGINATIVE software !"
- (Jon Horner, editor, FRAC'cetera)
-
- $30 shareware
- Written by Michael Peters and Randy Scott
-
- HOP is usually contained in a self-extracting HOPZIP.EXE file.
- Places to download HOPZIP.EXE from:
-
- Compuserve GRAPHDEV forum, lib 4
- The Well under ibmpc/graphics
- slopoke.mlb.semi.harris.com
- ftp.uni-heidelberg.de (under /pub/msdos/graphics)
- spanky.triumf.ca [128.189.128.27] (under pub.fractals.programs.ibmpc)
-
- HOP WWW page: http://rever.nmsu.edu/~ras/hop
-
- HOP mailing list: write to hop-request@acca.nmsu.edu
-
- To subscribe to the HOP mailing list, simply send a message with the
- word "subscribe" in the Subject: field. For information, send a message
- with the word "INFO" in the Subject: field.
-
- One thing that I forgot to mention about HOP is that it is contained in
- the December issue of Jon Horner's FRAC'cetera magazine, and that
- FRAC'cetera subscribers can register HOP for $20 instead of $30.
-
- NOTICE from J. C. (Clint) Sprott (SPROTT@juno.physics.wisc.edu):
-
- The program, Chaos Data Analyzer, which I authored is a research and
- teaching tool containing 14 tests for detecting hidden determinism in a
- seemingly random time series of up to 16,382 points provided by the user in
- an ASCII data file. Sample data files are included for model chaotic
- systems. When chaos is found, calculations such as the probability
- distribution, power spectrum, Lyapunov exponent, and various measures of
- the fractal dimension enable you to determine properties of the system
- Underlying the behavior. The program can be used to make nonlinear
- predictions based on a novel technique involving singular value
- decomposition. The program is menu-driven, very easy to use, and even
- Contains an automatic mode in which all the tests are performed in succession
- and the results are provided on a one-page summary.
-
- Chaos Data Analyzer requires an IBM PC or compatible with at least 512K
- of memory. A math coprocessor is recommended (but not required) to
- Speed some of the calculations. The program is available on 5.25 or 3.5"
- disk and includes a 62-page User's Manual. Chaos Data Analyzer is peer-
- reviewed software published by Physics Academic Software, a cooperative
- Project of the American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society,
- And the American Association of Physics Teachers.
-
- Chaos Data Analyzer and other related programs are available from The
- Academic Software Library, North Carolina State University, Box 8202,
- Raleigh, NC 27695-8202, Tel: (800) 955-TASL or (919) 515-7447 or
- Fax: (919) 515-2682. The price is $99.95. Add $3.50 for shipping in U.S.
- or $12.50 for foreign airmail. All TASL programs come with a 30-day,
- money-back guarantee.
-
- NOTICE from Noel Giffin (noel@erich.triumf.ca):
-
- Welcome to the Spanky Fractal Database
-
- This is a collection of fractal's and fractal related material for free
- distribution on the net. Most of the software was gathered from various
- ftp sites on the internet and it is generally freeware or shareware. Please
- abide by the guidelines set down in the individual packages. I would also
- like to make a disclaimer here. This page points to an enormous amount
- of information and no single person has the time to thoroughly check it
- all. I have tested software when I had the resources, and read through
- papers when I had the time, but other than certifying that it is related to
- fractals I can't assume any other responsibility.
-
- Enjoy and discover.
-
- The correct URL for this site is:
-
- http://spanky.triumf.ca/
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Acknowledgements
-
- Q30: Who has contributed to the Fractal FAQ?
- A30:
-
- Participants in the Usenet group sci.fractals and the listserv forum frac-l
- have provided most of the content of Fractal FAQ. For their help with this
- FAQ, special thanks go to:
-
- Alex Antunes, Steve Bondeson, Erik Boman, Jacques Carette, John Corbit,
- Abhijit Deshmukh, Tony Dixon, Robert Drake, Detlev Droege, Gerald
- Edgar, Gordon Erlebacher, Yuval Fisher, Duncan Foster, David Fowler,
- Murray Frank, Jean-loup Gailly, Noel Giffin, Earl Glynn, Jon Horner, Lamont
- Granquist, Luis Hernandez- Ure:a, Jay Hill, Arto Hoikkala, Carl Hommel,
- Robert Hood, Oleg Ivanov, Simon Juden, J. Kai-Mikael, Leon Katz, Matt
- Kennel, Tal Kubo, Jon Leech, Brian Meloon, Tom Menten, Guy Metcalfe,
- Eugene Miya, Lori Moore, Robert Munafo, Miriam Nadel, Ron Nelson,
- Tom Parker, Dale Parson, Matt Perry, Cliff Pickover, Francois Pitt, Kevin
- Ring, Michael Rolenz, Tom Scavo, Jeffrey Shallit, Rollo Silver, J. C. Sprott,
- Ken Shirriff, Gerolf Starke, Bruce Stewart, Dwight Stolte, Tommy Vaske,
- Tim Wegner, Andrea Whitlock, Erick Wong, Wayne Young, and others.
-
- Special thanks to Matthew J. Bernhardt (mjb@acsu.buffalo.edu) for
- collecting many of the chaos definitions.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Copyright
-
- Q31: Copyright?
- A31: Copyright (c) 1995 Ermel Stepp; 1994, 1993 Ken Shirriff
-
- The Fractal FAQ was created by Ken Shirriff and edited by him through
- September 26, 1994. The current editor of the Fractal FAQ is Ermel Stepp.
- Standing permission is given for non-profit reproduction and distribution of
- this issue of the Fractal FAQ as a complete document. Contact the editor for
- further information:
-
- Dr. Ermel Stepp
- Editor, Fractal FAQ
- Marshall University
- Huntington, WV 25755-2440
- (stepp@marshall.edu).
-
-
-