The Mandelbrot Set, telegraph wires, maths and the coastline of Britain

[editor]

This is an entertaining 20 min documentary:

 

[blossie33]

Fascinating!
The mathematics is somewhat beyond my comprehension but visually, I love the fractal patterns in nature.

 

[two sheds]

Yep fascinating, ta

Interesting right at the beginning that he said he translated algebraic formulae into geometric pictures. That's something I've always tried to do but failed at, and wished teachers had concentrated on. He said he could do it instantly.

And, is the video saying that the distance round the coastline of Great Britain is infinite? It would seem so

Eta by the same logic though the distance round a table would be infinite. Rather, it tends to a limit as you reduce the length of the measuring stick.

I think.

 

[xenon]

Ha, I honestly read the thread title assuming it was a music thread, like referring to a band and their best albums or maybe a gig lineup from years ago, when we had such things.

 

[skyscraper101]

I thought this was going to be about a Monochrome Set side project tour.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Eta by the same logic though the distance round a table would be infinite. Rather, it tends to a limit as you reduce the length of the measuring stick.

Yes, that my understanding - the more you zoom in the greater the length becomes. Not sure what happens when you get down to the subatomic scale though.

Think I've got a book about this somewhere - it had the mandelbrot set on the cover.

 

[Steel Icarus]

I think in theory the coastline of the UK is infinite but as infinity is impossible to reach it's not actually.

Like I've caught many students out in the past by asking them.how many sides a circle has - they usually say one, the answer is an infinite number

 

[maomao]

Thanks I have gained more understanding of mandlebrot sets and that type of geometry in twenty minutes than I ever did in decades of listening to stoned tossers wittering on about them.

 

[two sheds]

I think in theory the coastline of the UK is infinite but as infinity is impossible to reach it's not actually.

Like I've caught many students out in the past by asking them.how many sides a circle has - they usually say one, the answer is an infinite number

inside and outside

 

[maomao]

Like I've caught many students out in the past by asking them.how many sides a circle has - they usually say one, the answer is an infinite number

That's not widely agreed upon and depends upon the definition of side being used.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Well OBVIOUSLY

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Watching now.

Making me think of Slartibartfast and his fjords.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Like I've caught many students out in the past by asking them.how many sides a circle has - they usually say one, the answer is an infinite number

Two - front and back.

 

[two sheds]

Two - front and back.

That's four then.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

That's four then.

 

[two sheds]

ok five plus an infinite number and then we cover all bases

 

[farmerbarleymow]

ok five plus an infinite number and then we cover all bases

What are you talking about? Are you drunk?

 

[two sheds]

well if you've not read the thread

 

[farmerbarleymow]

well if you've not read the thread

You're confusing me.

 

[two sheds]

well starting from the beginning: one, infinite number, inside & outside, front & back.

 

[deeyo]

ok five plus an infinite number and then we cover all bases

ain't no bases in a circle.

 

[StoneRoad]

I remember seeing some of the early representations of the Mandelbrot set and being well impressed with the detail possible as you zoomed in.

That was a fascinating delve into a subject I normally steer well clear of, especially from the complicated stuff.

The bit about Britain's coastline made me think of the Scandinavian Fjords ...

 

[deeyo]

made me think of this:


the only book you need to read?

 

[HAL9000]

Yep fascinating, ta

Interesting right at the beginning that he said he translated algebraic formulae into geometric pictures. That's something I've always tried to do but failed at, and wished teachers had concentrated on. He said he could do it instantly.

And, is the video saying that the distance round the coastline of Great Britain is infinite? It would seem so

Eta by the same logic though the distance round a table would be infinite. Rather, it tends to a limit as you reduce the length of the measuring stick.

I think.

I think a perfect circle has a finite circumference, so if a table is a perfect circle I would expect the circumference would be finite.

But Britains coast line is a fractal and if you ignore limits imposed by atoms, the more you zoom into the coast the more knobbly bits you would find to measure. (that's my guess )

 

[two sheds]

Yes I did wonder that - but don't you hit a limit as you reduce measuring stick size?

Aaaaargh

 

[Steel Icarus]

Nobody's done the Mandelbrot joke yet. Disappointing

 

[HAL9000]

Yes I did wonder that - but don't you hit a limit as you reduce measuring stick size?

Aaaaargh

I would have thought atoms might be limit, but mathematician's don't worry about real things. Why do you think there's different types of infinite? (which I don't understand )

The different types (not sizes!) of infinity — LessWrong

In a recent conversation, a smart and mathy friend of mine revealed they didn't understand Cantor's diagonal argument. Further questionning revealed…

www.lesswrong.com