|  |      The Mandelbrot set is a subset of the complex plane.
     Take the sequence of complex numbers given by
     
                                   2
          a[0] = x    a[n+1] = a[n]  + y     n = 0,1,2,3,...
     
     Call this sequence a(x,y).      
     
     Given such a sequence, the set of points { a[n] | n = 0,1,2,...}
     is either a bounded set or an unbounded set.
     
     "The" Mandelbrot set is the set of all those complex
     numbers z such that the sequence a(0,z) is bounded.
     [It could just as well have been the sequence a(z,z)
     which is the sequence a(0,z) minus its first element.]
     
     It can be shown that with the exception of the sequence
     a(0,-2) = 0, -2, -2, -2, -2, ... that the set of points
     is unbounded if and only if it contains a complex number
     z with |z| >= 2.
     
     I am less sure about this next part; but I think the
     set of z such that the sequence a(c,z) is bounded for
     any other complex c is also called "a" Mandelbrot set;
     and the set of complex z such that a(z,c) for a fixed
     complex number c is bounded is called a Julia set.
     
     There is a notes conference on the Mandelbrot set (and
     programs that draw images of it) at TLE::MANDELBROT.
     
     Dan
 | 
|  | 	re .2
>>     There is a notes conference on the Mandelbrot set (and
>>     programs that draw images of it) at TLE::MANDELBROT.
	A while back this moved, along with all of the other notes
	conferences on node TLE, to node TURRIS.  So make that
		Notes> ADD ENTRY TURRIS::MANDELBROT
	or use KP7 or select to add.
	Dan
 | 
|  |         re .2
        
>>     It can be shown that with the exception of the sequence
>>     a(0,-2) = 0, -2, -2, -2, -2, ... that the set of points
>>     is unbounded if and only if it contains a complex number
>>     z with |z| >= 2.
        
        Oops, make that, it can be shown that with the exception
        of the sequence a(0,-2) = 0, -2, 2, 2, 2, ... that the
        set of points is unbounded if and only if it contains a
        complex number z with |z| >= 2.
        
>>     I am less sure about this next part; but I think the
>>     set of z such that the sequence a(c,z) is bounded for
>>     any other complex c is also called "a" Mandelbrot set;
>>     and the set of complex z such that a(z,c) for a fixed
>>     complex number c is bounded is called a Julia set.
        
        The actual definitions are a little broader than that. 
        The second one I mentioned gives a filled in Julia set. 
        The actual Julia set would be the boundary in the complex
        plane of the filled in Julia set.
        
        Dan
 |