Abstract
Examples provided earlier as introductions to fractal ideas, such as the Koch snowflake, fall into the class of geometric fractals. They are simple, beautiful, and powerful. They startle us: so much diversity is captured in such simple beginnings. The power is not so much in the “beginning,” but in the process of recursion. A simple act, repeated sufficiently often, creates extraordinary, often unsuspected results. Playing with recursive operations on the computer is the key to the revelation; reading the book spoils the story when the result is before you. Create your own monsters and beauties, and the insight comes free!
So Nat’ralists observe, a Flea Hath smaller Fleas that on him prey, And these have smaller fleas to bite ’em And so proceed ad infinitum.
Jonathan Swift
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© 1994 American Physiological Society
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Bassingthwaighte, J.B., Liebovitch, L.S., West, B.J. (1994). Generating Fractals. In: Fractal Physiology. Methods in Physiology Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7572-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7572-9_5
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