The Colours of Infinity

by Stewart, Ian (CON); Clarke, Arthur C. (CON); Mandelbrot, Benoit (CON); Barnsley, Michael (CON); Barnsley, Louisa (CON)

• ISBN13: 9781849964852
• ISBN10: 1849964858
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-12-24
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

The groundbreaking documentary (accompanying this book), introduced by Arthur C. Clarke, has been shown in over 50 countries around the world. Twenty five years ago it brought the subject of fractals to the attention of the general public for the first time. The contributors to the film are joined in this comprehensive survey of fractal theory and practice by some other leading experts in the field.- Beautifully and copiously illustrated, this latest edition also comes with an e-copy of the groundbreaking TV documentary- Brings fractal geometry up to date by gathering the thoughts and enthusiasms of the foremost writers and researchers in the field- A new chapter from Benoît Mandelbrot, the mathematician and founder of fractal geometry, makes this a 'must-read' for anyone with an interest in fractal theory- Includes contributions from world leaders including Sir Arthur C Clarke, Michael Barnsley, and Ian Stewart

Author Biography

Arthur C. Clarke is the world's most prophetic and most prolific writer of science fiction, much of which has become science fact. Professor Benot Mandelbrot is Stirling Professor of Mathematics at Yale University. He is world renowned for discovering the Mandelbrot Set and for the development of fractal geometry Professor Michael Barnsley is Professor at the National Australian University in Canberra, where he specialises in researching fractal geometry. He co-founded Iterated Systems Inc. in 1987, which later licensed fractal image compression technology to Microsoft. Gary Flake is a leading researcher in web analysis and modelling, and is President of Yahoo! Labs in California. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd provided the beautiful and wholly appropriate score for the film 'The Colours of Infinity'. Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon produced and directed the original documentary. He has been an independent film and documentary maker since the 1960s. He is the co-author of 'Introducing Fractals' with Will Rood and Ralph Edney and is currently investigating the educational applications of fractal geometry. David Pennock is a senior research scientist at Yahoo! He has taken out a number of patents relating to electronic commerce and the web, and his research has received significant attention. Will Rood discovered fractals in 1984, only to realise that Mandelbrot knew about them ten years earlier! Having graduated in pure mathematics at Cambridge, Will now writes software and makes videos and films. He collaborated on the film of 'The Colours of Infinity'. Emeritus Professor Ian Stewart was Professor of Mathematics at Warwick University and Director of the Mathematics Awareness Centre. He has written over 60 books including Does God Play Dice?

Table of Contents

Introduction
Contributors
The Nature of Fractal Geometry	p. 2
Exploring the Fractal Universe	p. 24
A Geometry Able to Include Mountains and Clouds	p. 38
Fractal Transformations	p. 58
Fractal Limits: The Mandelbrot Set and the self-similar tilings of M.C. Escher	p. 74
Self-organization, Self-regulation, and Self-similarity on the Fractal Web	p. 88
Fractal Financial Fluctuations	p. 120
Filming The Colours of Infinity	p. 136
The Colours of Infinity-the Film Script	p. 144
Index	p. 173
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