Based on a course given to talented high-school students at Ohio University in 1988, this book is essentially an advanced undergraduate textbook about the mathematics of fractal geometry. It nicely bridges the gap between traditional books on topology/analysis and more specialized treatises on fractal geometry. The book treats such topics as metric spaces, measure theory, dimension theory, and even some algebraic topology. It takes into account developments in the subject matter since 1990. Sections are clear and focused. The book contains plenty of examples, exercises, and good illustrations of fractals, including 16 color plates.

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

Based on a course given to talented high-school students at Ohio University in 1988, this book is essentially an advanced undergraduate textbook about the mathematics of fractal geometry. It nicely bridges the gap between traditional books on topology/analysis and more specialized treatises on fractal geometry. The book treats such topics as metric spaces, measure theory, dimension theory, and even some algebraic topology. It takes into account developments in the subject matter since 1990. Sections are clear and focused. The book contains plenty of examples, exercises, and good illustrations of fractals, including 16 color plates.

A mathematical study of the geometrical aspects of sets of both integral and fractional Hausdorff dimension. Considers questions of local density, the existence of tangents of such sets as well as the dimensional properties of their projections in various directions.

This ASI- which was also the 28th session of the Seminaire de mathematiques superieures of the Universite de Montreal - was devoted to Fractal Geometry and Analysis. The present volume is the fruit of the work of this Advanced Study Institute. We were fortunate to have with us Prof. Benoit Mandelbrot - the creator of numerous concepts in Fractal Geometry - who gave a series of lectures on multifractals, iteration of analytic functions, and various kinds of fractal stochastic processes. Different foundational contributions for Fractal Geometry like measure theory, dy namical systems, iteration theory, branching processes are recognized. The geometry of fractal sets and the analytical tools used to investigate them provide a unifying theme of this book. The main topics that are covered are then as follows. Dimension Theory. Many definitions of fractional dimension have been proposed, all of which coincide on "regular" objects, but often take different values for a given fractal set. There is ample discussion on piecewise estimates yielding actual values for the most common dimensions (Hausdorff, box-counting and packing dimensions). The dimension theory is mainly discussed by Mendes-France, Bedford, Falconer, Tricot and Rata. Construction of fractal sets. Scale in variance is a fundamental property of fractal sets.

Providing the mathematical background required for the study of fractal topics, this book deals with integration in the modern sense, together with mathematical probability. The emphasis is on the particular results that aid the discussion of fractals, and follows Edgars Measure, Topology, and Fractal Geometry. With exercises throughout, this is and ideal text for beginning graduate students both in the classroom and for self-study.