About Homepage Picture:

 

Homepage Design: About this picture

I searched for an original design. I chose this one for I felt that it combined mathematics and art, and the beauty of both. It is actually a computer-generated image of the Mandelbrot set (obtained by iterating the funtion w = z² + c in the complex plane). Benoit Mandelbrot is the father of modern fractal geometry, a geometry born in the 20th century and thriving today. The Mandelbrot set, the founder's staple discovery, is both old (quadratic functions) and new (second part of the 20th century). It is both simple and complex, offering lovers of mathematics more questions and problems to solve than almost any other object in the history of mathematics. It is a testimonial of the intersection of mathematics and art. It links the old and the new, the finite and the infinite, the known and the unknown. The complexity it exhibits, the infinity it explores and the amazement it provokes are more reasons I picked such a picture. It makes connections, it poses enigmas, and it fascinates.

I hope you will be amazed. I hope you will investigate further who Mandelbrot is, how the Mandelbrot set was discovered, and what the various design components represent. Perhaps you too will be seduced by the beauty of fractals--only one instance of the beauty of mathematics--and will investigate further both the art and the mathematics they offer us. Enjoy the journey!