9/8/2016 Fractal Science Kit - Mandelbrot Fractal Overview

MandelbrotFractals
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MandelbrotFractalOverview
TheFractalScienceKitfractalgeneratorMandelbrotfractalsencompassseveralrelatedfractaltypes
includingMandelbrotfractals,Juliafractals,Convergentfractals,Newtonfractals,andOrbitTraps.

MandelbrotFractals
Mandelbrotfractalsaretheresultofiteratingafractalformula.Afractalformulaisastatementlike:

z = z^2 + c

Thisstatementtakes2complexvaluesfoundinthevariablesz
andc,andcombinesthembasedontheexpressiontotheright
oftheequalsigninthiscase,bysquaringzandaddingcto
theresult.Theresultingcomplexvalueisassignedtothe
variablez,replacingthepreviousvalueofz.Thiscompletes
the1stiterationoftheformula.A2nditerationwouldevaluate
theexpressionagain,thistimestartingwiththenewvalueofz
computedinthe1stiteration.Thisprocesscontinueswitheach
stepproducinganewvalueforz.Theprocessterminates
whenthemagnitudeofzexceedssomethresholdvalueorthe
specifiedmaximumnumberofiterationsisreached.The
magnitudeofzisthedistanceofthepointzfromtheoriginofthecomplexplane(0+0i).Thesetofallthe
zvaluesovertheentireiterationofthefractalformulaiscalledtheorbitandthedifferentzvaluesare
calledtheorbitpoints.

Toproduceafractalimagefromthisprocess,awindowis
mappedontothecomplexplanecomposedofagridofpoints
calledpixels.Thenumberofrowsandcolumnsofthegridis
determinedbythesizeandresolutionofthewindow.Foreach
pixelinthewindow,wesetztoaninitialzvalue,substitute
thecomplexvalueassociatedwiththepixelintotheformulafor
c,anditeratetheformula.Iftheiterationterminatesbecause
themagnitudeofzexceedsthethreshold,thepixelissaidto
haveescapedandisoutsideoftheMandelbrotset.Thepixel
iscoloredbasedonthenumberofiterationsittooktoescape
and/orothercharacteristicsofz.Ifthemagnitudedoesnot
exceedthethresholdwhenthemaximumnumberofiterations
isreached,thepixelisassumedtobeinsidetheMandelbrotsetandisusuallycoloredblackbutother
coloringsarepossiblebasedonthevalueofzwhentheiterationisterminated.Ofcourse,thepixelmay
haveescapedhadweonlyexecutedadditionaliterationsoftheformula.Fractalsgeneratedusingthis
algorithm,arecalledMandelbrotfractals.

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JuliaFractals
A2ndalgorithmbeginseachorbitbysettingztothecomplex
valueassociatedwiththepixel,andctoafixedcomplexvalue,
calledtheJuliaConstant.Therestofthealgorithmisidentical
tothealgorithmdescribedabove.Fractalsgeneratedinthis
way,arecalledJuliafractals.

Thechoiceofthe
JuliaConstantin
largepartcontrols
thecharacterofthe
resultingJulia
fractal.Surprisingly,theMandelbrotfractalforthesamefractal
formulaprovidesthebestinterfaceforchoosingtheJulia
Constant.ItturnsoutthatthebestchoiceforaJulia
ConstantisapointonthecomplexplaneneartheMandelbrot
setboundary.TheresultingJuliafractalwillhavemanyofthe
characteristicsoftheMandelbrotfractalintheneighborhoodof
theJuliaConstant.TheMandelbrotfractalcanbeusedasa
mapforchoosingtheJuliaConstant.Tothisend,theFractalScienceKitallowsyoutoclickonany
MandelbrotfractaltoproduceaJuliafractalinasmallwindowcalledthePreviewWindow.Clickingonthe
imagedisplayedinthePreviewWindowcausestheJuliafractaltobedisplayedinafullsizewindowfor
furtherexploration.

ConvergentFractals
Thealgorithmsabovecanbemodifiedtowatchfor
convergenceratherthandivergence.Intheprocessdescribed
aboveweexecutetheformulaoverandoveruntilthe
magnitudeofzexceedssomethreshold.Fractalswiththistype
ofterminationconditionarecalledDivergentfractals.If
instead,weexecutetheformulauntilthedistancebetweenthe
pointzandtheorbitpointjustbeforezislessthansome
threshold,wegeneratewhatiscalledaConvergentfractal.
Thisdistancerepresentshowfarzmovedinthelastiteration
oftheorbitandtheterminationconditionisbasicallychecking
thattheorbitisconvergingtosinglepoint.Whichtermination
conditiontouse,dependslargelyonthefractalformula.Like
Divergentfractals,ConvergentfractalscanbegeneratedusingtheMandelbrotorJuliaalgorithms.

NewtonFractals
Themostcommonexampleofaconvergentfractalisafractal
basedonNewton'smethodoffindingtherootsofan
equation,calledNewtonfractals.

NewtonfractalsareavisualrepresentationofaprocesscalledtheNewtonRaphsonmethodorsimply
Newton'smethod,namedafterIsaacNewtonandJosephRaphson,usedtofindtherootsofan
equation.Givenanapproximatevalueforoneoftheroots,asimpleprocedureisusedtofindabetter
approximationfortheroot.Thisprocedureisappliedoverandoveragain,eachtimeusingthevalue
obtainedfromthepreviousstep,therebymovingcloserandclosertotheactualroot.Ifthisprocess
convergestoavalue,youhavefoundaroot.Theapproximatevaluechosenatthebeginningofthe
process,determinestowhichrootyouwilleventuallyconverge.Ifweassigneachrootacolor,andwe
coloreachpointonthecomplexplanebasedontheroottowhichthatpointconverges,aNewtonfractal
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9/8/2016 Fractal Science Kit - Mandelbrot Fractal Overview

istheresult.

TocreateaNewton
fractalforagiven
functionf(z),you
setupaJulia
fractalwitha
convergent
termination
condition,basedon
Newton'smethod
forfindingtheroots
ofanequationi.e.,z = z-f(z)/f'(z),wheref'(z)isthe
derivativeoff(z).Ifyoupluginavalueforzintothe
expressionontherightsideoftheassignment,thevalueoftheexpressionisclosertotherootthanthe
originalvaluez.Togeneratethefractal,youstartwithacomplexvalueassociatedwithapointonthe
complexplaneandperformthisassignmentuntilthevalueconvergestoaroot,andthencolortheinitial
pointbasedonthatroot.

Ofcourse,therearemanyotherrootfindingmethodsincluding:Schroder'smethod,Halley'smethod,
Whittaker'smethod,Cauchy'smethod,theSuperNewtonmethod(alsocalledHouseholder's
method),theSuperHalleymethod,theChebyshevHalleyfamilyofmethods,andtheCIterativefamily
ofmethods.FractalsassociatedwitheachofthesemethodsaresupportedbytheFractalScienceKit.
Developerscansetupaprogramtoexaminethefractalsassociatedwiththesemethodswithjustafew
linesofcode.SeeSolverFunctionsfordetailsandexampleprograms.

BuiltinFractalEquations
TheFractalScienceKitfractalgeneratorhasover180builtin
FractalEquationsincludingMandelbrot,Mandelbar,Cubic,
Lambda,Phoenix,Tetrate,Newton,Nova,Barnsley,
Magnet,aswellasstudiesinconvergentfractals,polynomial
fractals,rootfindingmethodbasedfractals,Juliamaps,
fractalsbasedontrigonometricandhyperbolicfunctions,and
fractalsbasedonexponentialformulas.Manyofthese
programsdefinepropertiesthatcanbeusedtoproduce
countlessdifferentvariations.SeeBuiltinFractalEquationsfor
acompletelist.

OrbitTraps
TheClassicdisplayofthedifferentMandelbrotandJulia
fractals(bothdivergentandconvergent)iteratesthefractal
formulaasdescribedpreviouslyandmapstheresultingorbitto
acolor.Anotherpopularmethodofgeneratingfractalsisto
defineasetofgeometricobjectslocatedonthecomplexplane
calledOrbitTrapsandduringthefractaliteration,keep
statisticsrelatedtohowclosetheorbitpointscometothe
OrbitTraps.OrbitTrapsprovideafertilegroundfornewand
unusualfractals.Youcancombinethebuiltintrapswithyour
ownOrbitTrapinstructionstoproduceuniquefractaldesigns.
TheFractalScienceKitfractalgeneratorsupportsmostofthe
commontraps,including:Circle,Cross,CycloidofCeva,
Epicycloid,Flower,Folium,Hypocycloid,Lemniscate,Limacon,Line,Oscillator,Polygon,
Rectangle,Rose,Sectors,Shape,Spiral,StarofDavid,SuperEllipse,Swirl,andmore.Many
unusualtrapsaresupportedaswell,including:ApollonianGasket,ApolloniusGrid,Borromean
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Rings,CircleInversion,CircleWeb,CircularVine,EllipticCircles,Daisy,EpitrochoidNet,
EpitrochoidRose,FacetedPolygon,FarrisWheels,FarrisWheelsNet,FordCircles,Fractal
Gasket,Harmonograph,HyperbolicCircles,IsogonalPolygon,KleinianGroup,KochTriangle,L
System,HypotrochoidNet,LemniscateNet,LimaconNet,MaurerRose,NephroidNet,Parabolic
Circles,ParabolicGrid,PenroseKite,PolygonNet,PolygonWhirl,SchottkyGroup,Sierpinski
Triangle,SoundOrnament,Spirolateral,StarPolygon,SteinerChain,TangentCircles,UnitCircle
Group,andmanymore.SeeOrbitTrapTypesandBuiltinOrbitTrapsforacompletelist.

TheOrbitTrapPropertiesPagesallowyoutodefinealistof
trapsandspecifyhowtoprocessthem.Youcanblendthe
trapstogetherusingvariousblendingtechniques(e.g.,
harmonicmean)orprocessthemseparately.Youcanmodify
thetrap'sposition/angleperiteration,basedonvaluesofthe
current/previousorbitpoints.Youcancontrolthetrap
envelope.Youcantransforminputpointspriortopassingthem
tothetrap.ThesearebutafewofthemanydifferentOrbit
Trapoptionsavailable.

Someoftheorbit
trapsarestand
alonefractalsintheirownright.Forexample,theKleinian
GrouptrapallowsyoutoproduceQuasifuchsian,SingleCusp,
andDoubleCusp,TwoGeneratorGroupfractalsdescribedin
thebookIndra'sPearlsTheVisionofFelixKleinbyDavid
Mumford,CarolineSeries,andDavidWright.TheSchottky
GrouptrapexplorestheworldofnestingSchottkydisksand
groupsofMobiusmapsthatformthebasisfortheTwo
GeneratorGroupfractalsabove.SchottkyGroupfractalsare
alsodescribedinthebookIndra'sPearls.TheLSystemtrap
allowsyoutocreateanorbittrapusingasetofstatementsthat
defineanLSystemorLindenmayerSystem.LindenmayerSystemfractalsweredevelopedin1968by
AristidLindenmayer.TheApollonianGasket,CircleInversion,FordCircles,andUnitCircleGroup
trapsalsoproducestandalonefractals.Othertraps(e.g.,EpitrochoidNet,EpitrochoidRose,Farris
Wheels,FarrisWheelsNet,Harmonograph,HypotrochoidNet,IsogonalPolygon,MaurerRose,
SoundOrnament,Spirolateral,StarPolygon)canproducebeautifulmathematicalartwhencombined
withcomplextransformationsandothersupportedfeatures.

Copyright20042016Hilbert,LLC
Allrightsreserved

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