Fractals are the repeating pattern of self-similar shapes/ lines that goes on forever. For example, if you snapped a branch off of a tree and looked at it closely, it would look like the original tree that it came from. A famous example is Sierpinski's Triangle; a never ending triangle made of triangles which are made from other triangles and so on. With Sierpinski's Triangle, zooming into any of the triangles would look like an exact copy of the original triangle (pictured here to the right).
|
Why Do They Matter?
Fractals can be found everywhere. They are often seen as the foundation of a lot of things in this world; a self repeating pattern to form the whole. Fractals are used to try and replicate the world around us, as its pattern can be found in snowflakes, trees, leaves, root systems, our own bodies, and much more. Our assignment was to explain what a fractal is, take a picture of one and explain how if fits into being a fractal. Here you will find a picture of a fractal from each student.