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.
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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
Like in a Dream, by Jérémie Brunet
[youtube url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S530Vwa33G0]
A mesmerising tour through fractal space. Switch to fullscreen HD if you can. Created with Mandelbulb3D
This is an ex-parrot. ‘Is plumage has dimension 1
A paper by Lorenzo Pérez-Rodríguez, Roger Jovani and François Mougeot in Proceedings B, “Fractal geometry of a complex plumage trait reveals bird’s quality“, claims that the measurement of the fractal dimension of a red-legged partridge’s chest plumage is a good indicator of its health.
I know what you’re thinking: another ‘non-mathematicians pick trendy term to describe something rather different’ story, but actually the authors do quite a good job of explaining and justifying their method. I’m convinced!
Plumage patterns are the product of reaction-diffusion systems which probably don’t really produce fractal dimension, but the researchers needed a fairly easy and consistent way of measuring the complexity of patterns. A healthy bird can produce more melanin, which can produce more complicated patterns. For the level of detail needed, the researchers say that the box-counting method of computing fractal dimension is a quick way of measuring the effect they’re looking for.
Paper: Fractal geometry of a complex plumage trait reveals bird’s quality, by Lorenzo Pérez-Rodríguez, Roger Jovani and François Mougeot, in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
via Slashdot
Amazing Sierpinski Tetrahedron
In the wake of a flurry of tetrices being constructed in schools all over the country (see this post about fractal Christmas tree worksheets, and this post featuring photos of completed trees), we’ve also been sent a video of a school group constructing an ambitious and impressive fractal structure, using envelopes cleverly folded into tetrahedra. The video is below, and features (eventually) a level 5 Sierpinski Tetrahedron, made from 1024 envelopes!
[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lYj5YcPAIg]
Via teacher Tim Dolan on Twitter.
Fractal Christmas Trees – Your Photos
Having posted about Matt Parker’s Fractal Christmas Tree last week, we’ve had quite a few photos of completed trees sent in! Here’s a Tony Hart gallery-style roundup of them.
Matt Parker’s Fractal Christmas Tree
Stand-up Mathematician and all-round maths lover Matt Parker has been busy again, and he’s made a set of free worksheets for teachers (and, of course, interested non-teachers) to assemble paper nets of 3D fractals, including a Menger sponge and Sierpinski tetrahedron (which I’ve just learned is also called a tetrix).
There’s also a sheet for making a delightfully festive/mathematical fractal Christmas tree, with a Menger sponge base, Sierpinski branches and a Koch Snowflake star on top. Presumably those interested can make Mandelbulb ornaments and Cantor Set tinsel to hang on it. Don’t ask me how that would work.
The worksheets can be downloaded from Matt’s Think Maths website.
Anyone who successfully builds the whole thing: send us a photo and we’ll post it here. Jokes about fractals taking a while to cut out/paint in the comments.