# You're reading: Posts Tagged: fractal

### HLF Blogs – Math ⇔ Art: the Gosper curve

This week, Katie and Paul are blogging from the Heidelberg Laureate Forum – a week-long maths conference where current young researchers in maths and computer science can meet and hear talks by top-level prize-winning researchers. For more information about the HLF, visit the Heidelberg Laureate Forum website.

Running alongside the 5th HLF is an exhibition of mathematical art by the astrophysicist Aldo Spizzichino. He’s taken ideas from mathematics, and used his own set of programs (in Fortran, no less) to produce his images, a couple of dozen of which are on display in the Old University building a few steps from the forum. Although all the pieces were generating discussion as I looked round the exhibition on Sunday morning, I’ve picked two to talk a bit about, both based on the same piece of maths.

### Kickstart the Mandelmap poster: a vintage style map of the Mandelbrot set

Here’s something fun you might want to spend some money on: a poster of the Mandelbrot set, in the style of an old-fashioned navigation chart.

The Kickstarter has already racked up many multiples of the original funding goal with three weeks still to go, so it’s at the “effectively a pre-order” stage. The posters start at \$26. Kickstarter: Mandelmap poster by Bill Tavis. ### London MathsJam Recap, May 2015 I know I usually write up the goings-on at Manchester MathsJam, but since I spent much of the last month ‘In Residence’ at the University of Greenwich, I spent the second-to-last Tuesday evening of May at the London MathsJam. Here’s a summary of what transpired. ### Mandelbrot’s bum is full of π They say that$\pi$is everywhere. (They say that about$\phi\$ too, but I’m not buying it.) I thought it would be interesting to discuss the most unexpected place I’m aware it’s ever appeared.

He’s always busy doing something: here’s some news about friend of the site and Stand-up Mathematician Matt Parker, who’s got big plans for October.

### Doodal

Doodal is a happy little toy which helps you draw fractals. This video explains how:

It’s a Flash applet, which means it doesn’t work on mobile devices :(

Play Doodal