Fractals are the geometry of the natural world. They're about the broken, wrinkled, wiggly world- the uneven shapes of nature, unlike the idealised forms of Euclidean geometry. We see fractals everywhere; indeed, we are fractals ourselves. Fractal geometry is an extension of classical geometry which can make precise models of physical structures, from ferns to galaxies. It can describe the shape of a cloud as precisely as an architect can describe a house. Introducing Fractals traces the historical development of this mathematical discipline, explores its descriptive powers in the natural world, and then looks at the applications and the implications of the discoveries it has made. As John Archibald Wheeler, protégé of Niels Bohr, friend of Albert Einstein and mentor of Richard Feynman has said, 'No one will be considered scientifically literate tomorrow, who is not familiar with fractals.'

Many are familiar with the beauty and ubiquity of fractal forms within nature. Unlike the study of smooth forms such as spheres, fractal geometry describes more familiar shapes and patterns, such as the complex contours of coastlines, the outlines of clouds, and the branching of trees. In this Very Short Introduction, Kenneth Falconer looks at the roots of the 'fractal revolution' that occurred in mathematics in the 20th century, presents the 'new geometry' of fractals, explains the basic concepts, and explores the wide range of applications in science, and in aspects of economics. This is essential introductory reading for students of mathematics and science, and those interested in popular science and mathematics. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

This title is now available in a new format. Refer to Fractals: A Graphic Guide 9781848310872.

From the reviews: "In the world of mathematics, the 1980's might well be described as the "decade of the fractal". Starting with Benoit Mandelbrot's remarkable text The Fractal Geometry of Nature, there has been a deluge of books, articles and television programmes about the beautiful mathematical objects, drawn by computers using recursive or iterative algorithms, which Mandelbrot christened fractals. Gerald Edgar's book is a significant addition to this deluge. Based on a course given to talented high- school students at Ohio University in 1988, it is, in fact, an advanced undergraduate textbook about the mathematics of fractal geometry, treating such topics as metric spaces, measure theory, dimension theory, and even some algebraic topology. However, the book also contains many good illustrations of fractals (including 16 color plates), together with Logo programs which were used to generate them. ... Here then, at last, is an answer to the question on the lips of so many: 'What exactly is a fractal?' I do not expect many of this book's readers to achieve a mature understanding of this answer to the question, but anyone interested in finding out about the mathematics of fractal geometry could not choose a better place to start looking." #Mathematics Teaching#1

Fractals for the Classroom breaks new ground as it brings an exciting branch of mathematics into the classroom. The book is a collection of independent chapters on the major concepts related to the science and mathematics of fractals. Written at the mathematical level of an advanced secondary student, Fractals for the Classroom includes many fascinating insights for the classroom teacher and integrates illustrations from a wide variety of applications with an enjoyable text to help bring the concepts alive and make them understandable to the average reader. This book will have a tremendous impact upon teachers, students, and the mathematics education of the general public. With the forthcoming companion materials, including four books on strategic classroom activities and lessons with interactive computer software, this package will be unparalleled.

For students with a background in elementary algebra, this book provides a vivid introduction to the key phenomena and ideas of chaos and fractals, including the butterfly effect, strange attractors, fractal dimensions, Julia Sets and the Mandelbrot Set, power laws, and cellular automata. The book includes over 200 end-of-chapter exercises.

This book presents concisely the full story on complex and hypercomplex fractals, starting from the very first steps in complex dynamics and resulting complex fractal sets, through the generalizations of Julia and Mandelbrot sets on a complex plane and the Holy Grail of the fractal geometry – a 3D Mandelbrot set, and ending with hypercomplex, multicomplex and multihypercomplex fractal sets which are still under consideration of scientists. I tried to write this book in a possibly simple way in order to make it understandable to most people whose math knowledge covers the fundamentals of complex numbers only. Moreover, the book is full of illustrations of generated fractals and stories concerned with great mathematicians, number spaces and related fractals. In the most cases only information required for proper understanding of a nature of a given vector space or a construction of a given fractal set is provided, nevertheless a more advanced reader may treat this book as a fundamental compendium on hypercomplex fractals with references to purely scientific issues like dynamics and stability of hypercomplex systems.