Instructions

Mandelbrot Set

The chaos theory classic in complex number space.

Pick any point in the complex plane and call it c. Then, with z0 = 0, iterate so that zi+1 = zi2+c.

The first question is: is there a zi for which |zi| > 2; if so, all subsequent points will tend to infinity; if not, the points will be forever trapped close to 0 in the Mandelbrot Set.

If it tends to infinity, the second question is: how many iterations does it take to get there?

The Mandelbrot Set itself is colored black; all other colors represent different amounts of time to tend to infinity from that starting point.

Newton's Method

Newton's method is a numerical technique for finding the roots of a polynomial by "guesswork". Starting with an arbitrary guess, figure both the function value and the differential. Use the value of the differential to come up with a better guess (where the root would be if the function were in fact a straight line). Then repeat.

Intuition suggests that there will be consistent areas where each root is found; but in fact the roots can go anywhere.

The colors are used to indicate which root was found from an initial guess.

The roots are in the complex plane.

Solving n3-1 = 0

Solving n4-1 = 0