MetaFilter posts tagged with Math and fractals

That which does not kill us makes us stronger

Rhaomi — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 15:07:13 -0800

> comp.basilisk - Frequently Asked Questions :: Is it just an urban legend that the first basilisk destroyed its creator? Almost everything about the incident at the Cambridge IV supercomputer facility where Berryman conducted his last experiments has been suppressed and classified as highly undesirable knowledge. It's generally believed that Berryman and most of the facility staff died. Subsequently, copies of basilisk B-1 leaked out. This image is famously known as the Parrot for its shape when blurred enough to allow safe viewing. B-1 remains the favorite choice of urban terrorists who use aerosols and stencils to spray basilisk images on walls by night. But others were at work on Berryman's speculations... (The quoted FAQ section was too pithy a summary to pass up, but it did constrain the order I could put the links in. So if you don't have time to read everything, I'll just note that the last and second-to-last links are IMHO the best content in the post, in that order.) Also: Boo!

Finite formula found for partition numbers

kliuless — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 10:40:18 -0800

New math theories reveal the nature of numbers [1,2] - "We prove that partition numbers are 'fractal' for every prime. These numbers, in a way we make precise, are self-similar in a shocking way. Our 'zooming' procedure resolves several open conjectures, and it will change how mathematicians study partitions." (/.|via) BONUS

Fractals plus quantum mechanics equals chaos - "investigating the properties of light when it is confined to a fractal object"

Polynomial Time Code For 3-SAT Released - "This is not a P=NP paper."

Would you like to buy an fuzzy multi-instanton knot?

escabeche — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:56:25 -0800

"...the best place to hide bulls**t is in a refereed journal that’s not open-access!" The math-physics blog n-category cafe digs into the curious case of M.S. El Naschie. El Naschie is editor-in-chief of the journal Chaos, Solitons, and Fractals, published by the well-respected scientific publisher Elsevier and sold to academic libraries for US$4,520 a year. The problem? El Naschie has published 322 of his own papers in the journal -- papers that John Baez (of "This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics" and "The Crackpot Index") describes as "vague, dreamlike imagery," "undisciplined numerology larded with impressive buzzwords," and "total baloney." Is El Naschie a reverse Sokal? Or a Markov process for producing random publishable papers? One thing's for sure -- he knows how to cure cancer.

Cut The Knot

parudox — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 23:52:10 -0800

Interactive mathematics miscellany and puzzles, including 75 proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem, an interactive column using Java applets, and eye-opening demonstrations. (Actually, much more.)

Gallery

Kwantsar — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:38:48 -0800

Riemann's Curve , Airfoils, Complex Roots, More.

Mandelbrot on Fractals as A Theory of Roughness.

MetaMonkey — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 00:32:37 -0800

A talk with Benoît Mandelbrot, entitled Fractals in Science, Engineering and Finance (Roughness and Beauty) [video, 80mins, realplayer] about fractals as A Theory of Roughness.