A fractal is a mathematical set that often appears in self-similar patterns, in other words, they may appear the same at every scale from the grand to the microscopic. Where can you find them? They occur in nature, e.g., in clouds, crystals, certain types of broccoli (perhaps to the dismay of President George W.H. Bush, aka 41), lightning bolts, blood vessels, DNA, oak trees, and its leaves, and all other matter of things. Consider the snowflake. No matter how far one zooms into a snowflake, one finds a repeating pattern. It is like finding a snowflake within a snowflake, within a snowflake, in a never-ending pattern down to the microscopic level. Really quite fascinating. Continue reading →