This month we talked about snowflakes, symmetry, and tessellations Today let's combine them all and talk about fractals.
Fractal is a never-ending pattern that repeats in on itself. Similar to a tessellation (tiling), fractals grow bigger or smaller but keep the same shapes. A basic fractal is called the Koch Snowflake. Starting with a triangle, each line gets a triangle pushed out through it. Check out the first few steps below and read more about it here (click!).
Many fractals create beautiful curves and complicated designs - you don't need to be a mathematician to enjoy the intricate designs! Here's the Mandelbrot set:
Click on this link to see an interactive version - pick one of the points and zoom in on it. What do you notice as the swirls grow? Can you count them all?
Any Legend of Zelda fans here? The Triforce is a basic example of the Sierpinski triangle - check out this site to draw and color your own, and explore the site for more 'fractivities'!
Fractal Foundation - check out the fractal balloons!
