Benoit Mandelbrot, RIP

**LanceGary** · 19-10-2010, 01:18

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11560101

Benoit Mandelbrot, who discovered mathematical shapes known as
fractals, has died of cancer at the age of 85.

**Petr Schreiber** · 19-10-2010, 08:52

Thanks for the news Lance,

cancer is such a terrible end

But I think Mr. Mandelbrot can be happy, I think fractals are still very popular topic today, and with lot of applications.

Petr

**Charles Pegge** · 19-10-2010, 11:39

My Botanic Tribute to Mandelbrot:

**Charles Pegge** · 19-10-2010, 11:50

http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegrea...her_of_fr.html

**danbaron** · 20-10-2010, 07:38

[font=courier new][size=8pt]I admired him and what he did.

So far, no scientific genius has been able to solve the problem of his own aging body. If one did, how much science could he then do?

**zak** · 04-11-2010, 10:00

for those who like history and memory , download the first article from scientific american august 1985 which makes fractals popular

(DIY Fractals: Exploring the Mandelbrot Set on a Personal Computer)) by A. K. Dewdney from here full for free as PDF:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...mandelbrot-set

**danbaron** · 05-11-2010, 03:35

[font=courier new][size=8pt]At the limit, as the number of iterations approaches infinity, both the Sierpinski triangle, and the Sierpinski pyramid are composed only of line segments (and lines have zero width in 2D, and zero radius in 3D). So, the (finished, --> i.e., infinity of iterations) Sierpinski triangle has zero area, and the (finished) Sierpinski pyramid has zero volume. If you look at the pictures of the Sierpinski pyramids (at the link below), you realize that the amount of material required to construct a finished Sierpinski pyramid, is zero. (Maybe you already knew this, but, it's still interesting, yes?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpinski_triangle