Fractals, Graphics, and Mathematics Education

by Benoît B. Mandelbrot

Learn how others have developed courses in fractal Geometry for use in
elementary school, high school, colleges and universities.

Fractal geometry is a recent addition to the collection of mathematical tools
for describing nature and the works of Man.  It made possible for the first
time a national study of roughness.  Fractals are encountered in
mathematics and many natural sciences, but also in finance and in art, music and
literature most often without being consciously included by anyone. Therefore,
fractals interconnect the arts and the natural and social sciences I may
intrinsic ways.  Rarely, if ever, are students exposed to anything like
this in mathematics and science classes.

This book collects essays about fractal's role in mathematics and science
education.  In the first four chapters, the editors address general
issues.  The next twelve chapters are invited case studies authored by
educators who began years ago to use fractal geometry in classes that range from
second grade elementary school, through public and private high schools, to
state universities and private colleges.  Some contributors survey
literature and software they have used, others present detailed sample
lessons;.  The chapter for Florida Atlantic University reports on a program
training teachers in Florida.

Many teachers developed fractals courses on their own in isolation from one
another.  This book is a token of how widespread such courses have
become.  The common themes that appear throughout mark the coming of age of
this subject.

Unknown Binding

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Benoît B. Mandelbrot, O.L.H., Ph.D. (Mathematical Sciences, University of Paris, 1952; M.S., Aeronautics, California Institute of Technology, 1949) was a mathematician best known as the father of fractal geometry. He was Sterling Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Sciences at Yale University; IBM Fellow Emeritus at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center; and Battelle Fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Mandelbrot was born in Poland, but his family moved to France when he was a child; he was a dual French and American citizen and was educated in France. He has been awarded with numerous honors, including induction into the Legion d'honneur, as well as the 1986 Franklin Medal for Physics, the 1993 Wolf Prize for Physics, the 2000 Lewis Fry Richardson Medal of the European Geophysical Society, and the 2003 Japan Prize "for the creation of universal concepts in complex systems."

Reviews

[Baldwin_tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

(206 pgs.) Interesting book but designed for someone who already knows fractal geometry and is trying to teach others. Some of the chapters designed for grade and high school students were understandable but most were very difficult. I need to check out some of the books from the bibliography if I want to be successful in learning fractal geometry. As I have continued to read and study this book I have learned more and more about Fractal Geometry.