What is a fractal?

When truly understood, fractal patterns strike a chord of familiarity--for they appear everywhere. Fractals can be distinguished in so many areas of life that it is only a slight exaggeration to say that they are life.

Fractal patterns show up in pine cones, sun flowers, snow flakes, plant structures and bone structures and blood vessel networks. Fractals show up in the swirls that occur when cream is dripped into coffee, oil is dripped into water, and the path that smoke takes when blown into air. Fractals show up in the path that sub-atomic particles follow around an atom, and in the path that planets, stars, solar systems and galaxies travel as they travel through the cosmos.

Many mathematicians and scientists believe that Fractals serve as one of the best metaphors for the way life arranges itself in all of it's dimensions and multi-facetedness.

Fractals are complex, self-similar shapes that repeat fundamentally similar patterns at ever-increasing and decreasing scales. That is, when you magnify a segment of a fractal pattern, you will discover a microscopic version of the larger pattern. Magnify a still smaller section, and the same pattern will again emerge in infinite complexity with self-similar fidelity. Conversely, zoom out, and you will see the same patterns emerge. Each aspect of a Fractal shapes and is shaped by every other aspect.

Try this 3-minute journey through Fractals on this YouTube video!