Use your mouse to zoom into any part of the image above that you would like to get a closer view of. Click the mouse and your computer will generate a closer view (10 x closer). You may do this repeatedly (about 14 times). Refresh the page when you wish to start over.
What is it?
This is a mathematically generated image known as the Mandelbrot Set. The Mandelbrot Set is generated using the iterated formula Z=Z2+C in which Z and C are complex numbers. Complex numbers are numbers that contain both a Real and an Imaginary component. Imaginary numbers are real numbers multiplied by the square root of negative one. Recall that negative one has no square root, this is why the square root of negative one is called imaginary! Very wierd, but actually useful mathematical stuff.
As wierd as imaginary numbers are, the actual math behind generating the Mandelbrot Set is not that difficult, but it requires millions of computations to generate one picture. That is why it wasn't discovered until 1980 by a mathematician named Benoit Mandelbrot with the aid of a computer to do all the tedius work!
Part of the beauty of the Mandelbrot Set is the fact that it is generated by such a simple equation, Z=Z2+C. The Mandelbrot Set is infinately complex (complicated), which means that you can theoretically enlarge it forever and still find new patterns. Unfortunately, the more you enlarge it, the larger the numbers are that the computer needs to work with, until the numbers get too large. That is why you can't use this program to enlarge it forever.
It is amazing to me that such a simple iterated formula can generate such beautiful infinate complexity! It's hard not to imagine the formula coyly waiting out there in the abstract world through the eons of time awaiting discovery to impress us with its hidden beauty. Of course, the Mandelbrot Set is not conscious and has no thoughts and feelings. However, I believe the knowledge of it has always existed in the mind of our Creator - a lover of the beautiful - who loves to watch us thrill in discovery.
