Mandelbrot graphics

EE 86 July/August 1986 1631Mandelbrotgraphics The computer-based implementation of certain iterative types of calcul- ation may offer highly attractive graphics screen representations, as we got to know when keying in a program to crunch a few numbers in the Mandelbrot series, and found that doing so with the support of the computer"s graphics facilities took us through a regular graphics adven- ture. On further investigation, it was found that the degree of complexity of the resultant graphics image is in direct proportion with the number of iterative steps the control program is arranged to perform. However, since the necessary calculations to obtain a Mandelbrot series become the more complex, and therefore time con- suming, as the computer crunches through its approximations and evaluations, it should not strike the programmer as odd that obtaining a nicely detailed graphics image may take as long as 12 to 24 hours, even with the fastest types of personal or semi-professional ...