Printer Friendly
The Free Dictionary
990,776,894 visitors served.
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

fractals

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Financial, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.06 sec.

A lossy compression method used for color images. Providing ratios of 100:1 or greater, fractals are especially suited to natural objects, such as trees, clouds and rivers. Fractals turn an image into a set of data and an algorithm for expanding it back to the original.

The term comes from "fractus," which is Latin for broken or fragmented. It was coined by IBM Fellow and doctor of mathematics Benoit Mandelbrot, who expanded on ideas from earlier mathematicians and discovered similarities in chaotic and random events and shapes.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
 Email
Feedback
? Mentioned in ? References in periodicals archive
 
Pappas delivers a new way to enjoy and learn some sublimely abstract notions, such as tessellations, fractals, googols, imaginary numbers, and much more.
Math Talk by Science News
to the amazing shapes of fractals to the fascinating properties of the "golden ratio" phi and much more.
Go Figure! by Children's Bookwatch
Ancient Greek cosmology may seem old hat in a world of fractals and cyberspace, but earthquake, hurricane, conflagration and flood have been all too relevant since the Pacific tsunami heralded the year 2005.
Designing for disaster by Finch, Paul / The Architectural Review
More results
 
Encyclopedia browser? ? Full browser
 
 
Encyclopedia
?

Disclaimer | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2008 Farlex, Inc.
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Terms of Use.