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Mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot introduced a set of equations in 1975 that impressed artists more than scientists. That's because his equations -- called fractals -- become amazing geometrical pictures. The Mandelbrot set is a fractal. Pictured here is the "Blue Swirl" fractal, part of the Mandelbrot set.
As the image is enlarged -- the picture going deeper and deeper into the region near the boundary of the Mandelbrot set itself (black bits) -- we see infinitely many fabulous patterns including miniature copies of the whole set, spidery filaments, pools and lagoons of color, devilish pitchforks and complicated spirals.Image credit: Courtesy Frances Griffin
