Talk:Fractal

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[edit] Suggestion

Hopefully this can offer an eventual merge? Sr13 05:48, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Adding a reference for item 34 on the achieved talk page (page2). A reference from the Nexus Journal: Daniele Capo, The Fractal Nature of the Architectural Orders. [1] Nikhil Varma 14:23, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Adding a link to www.fractalguide.com—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 149.254.192.192 (talk • contribs).

I have recently developed a web based fractal viewer. Does anyone think a link to the viewer on the fractal pagewoulds be useful. http://www.webmandel.com is where it can be found. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.44.137.1 (talk) 16:41, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

See WP:EL. A new link is not necessary.TheRingess (talk) 16:50, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your opinion —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.44.137.1 (talk) 19:07, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

There is nothing that would rule out that link in WP:EL, in fact items 3 and 4 of what should be included fit the given site well, and it passes all tests of what not to include. EL is also a style guide, not a strict policy. All that said, I don't like the link simply because of the ugly layout and palette used. Fix that up, and the site would make a great addition to this page. Nazlfrag (talk) 06:28, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] image

I have an image of a real-life fractal. It's from the glass door on a wood-burning stove. The charring on the glass flakes off in a fractal pattern. It's not a great picture, but it is a great example of fractal behavior in a physical process. Does anyone think it would help to contribute it to the article (and to the Commons)? --Cheeser1 07:51, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Colloquial usage"

What exactly does the lead sentence mean by "In colloquial usage, a fractal is..."? How is "fractal" a colloquialism? See also colloquial. If the definition is wrong, fix the definition, don't label it a colloquialism. If the definition is correct (albeit rough or vague), then it's fine as-is (minus "colloquial"). --Cheeser1 06:15, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

The point that "colloquial" is trying to make is that what follows is not a mathematically precise definition of a fractal, because it is too vague. "Colloquial" is a flag to say "please don't pick holes in this definition, we know it is not exact". Unfortunately, we cannot put in a mathematically precise definition because there isn't one (AFAIK). Every attempt that I have seen at a precise definition either excludes objects that are generally agreed to be fractals, or includes objects that are generally agreed not to be fractals. But maybe "colloquial" is not the right term here - would "informal" be better ? Gandalf61 08:51, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
There isn't one precise definition of "integral" either. A better example, take "chaos." How about this:
A fractal is generally "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," a property called self-similarity. The term was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning "broken" or "fractured".
Does that sound better? I'd also probably want to change "A fractal as a geometric object generally has the following features" to simply "A fractal often has the following features." You think that works? --Cheeser1 14:13, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
So long as it remains clear that the term has no really precise mathematical definition (Well, in fact it does: a fractal set has non-integer dimension!) But the point is that it has a more widely understood vernacular meaning (which is arguably much more important)--C G Strauss 21:20, 6 October 2007 (UTC)
Unfortunately, the "non-integer Hausdorff dimension" definition does not work, because it excludes objects such as the Smith-Volterra-Cantor set (dimension=1) and Peano curves (dimension=2), which are generally considered to be fractals. See List of fractals by Hausdorff dimension for more examples of fractals with integer Hausdorff dimension. Gandalf61 08:08, 7 October 2007 (UTC)
I agree - I think the imprecise definition is actually quite appropriate, given the different uses of the term to describe what are similar (if not precisely the same) phenomena. --Cheeser1 17:07, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Links

  • XaoS — One of the fastest fractal generators.

And in general, how about Comparison of fractal software — lim 17:28, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia isn't really a place for software comparisons, unless the comparison is, you know, notable (e.g. the article Windows Vista might include comparisons to its predecessors). I don't think we're in the habit of (basically) reviewing/rating software/games/etc. --Cheeser1 19:22, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
I'm talking about something like this: Comparison of container formats, Comparison of audio codecs, Comparison of SSH clients — lim 10:23, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
What is about making a list of fractal softwares and small discriptions with how to download, and use them.

Vishvax 06:56, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

See this guideline, which explains what I mean when I say that you can't use the existence of one article to justify the existence of another. I see no reason to make such an article, especially since "fractal software" and the features that define such software are poorly-defined. It's not like an audio codec, which can be compared in some more objective/encyclopedic ways. --Cheeser1 21:22, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fractal-generating software

In the history of this article, a comprehensive list of fractal-generating software is buried. Based on this list, a dedicated article for the list of such software could be created.

See the revision of the article, after which the list of fractral-generating software was removed by the courageous User:Salix alba.

Above, an objection has been raised that "fractal-generating software" is a poorly defined category. I cannot confirm such a statement. To begin with, any program that generates a Mandelbrot set, Julia set, of IFS is a fractal-generating software. Put differently, to the extent to which the term "fractal" is defined, the term "fractal-generating software" is defined too.

--Dan Polansky (talk) 08:11, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] verry little math

Altough most Wiki pages about math subjects are unreadable because of the nathlanguage used. This article contains no formula at al. Well that's great its a good read. But perhaps a little bit about the mathematics behind fractals just at a level one can create his own basic version fractal would be nice. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.217.143.153 (talk) 16:48, 23 February 2008 (UTC)