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The idea of a platform between two whole numbers might seem impossible to imagine. However, for someone working with fractals in math, the challenge is not so different. Fractals are used to measure things between dimensions, as in something that’s more than 2-D, but not quite 3-D. A National Science Foundation mathematician created this fractal to better understand how wind would move oceanographic sensors in an eddy.
This is just a snapshot in time, but wind would push the sensors back and forth, making it uncertain where they might go. Because of the stochastic nature -- a kind of organized randomness -- this fractal helps visualize the scenario and come up with an optimal control so sensors use as little battery as possible and minimize displacement.Image credit: Lora Billings
