Reading for Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2007

WTSM 100L

Read the marked sections in James Gleick, Chaos

Make sure you understand how to multiply and add complex numbers (see example in the reading, and also examples in class)

Questions (bring to class to discuss, not to hand in):

In what ways does it make sense to call the Mandelbrot set a fractal?

How is the Mandelbrot set different from other fractals we've seen?

What do you think the fractal dimension of the boundary of the Mandelbrot set might be?

Is the Mandelbrot set connected (and what does this mean)?

In computer programs for producing the Mandelbrot set, how is it decided whether the orbit is bounded or whether it runs off to infinity?