Subject: Learning about fractals

Q1: I want to learn about fractals. What should I read/view first?

A1: Chaos: Making a New Science, by James Gleick, is a good book to get a general overview and history that does not require an extensive math background. Fractals Everywhere, by Michael Barnsley, and Measure Topology and Fractal Geometry, by G. A. Edgar, are textbooks that describe mathematically what fractals are and how to generate them, but they requires a college level mathematics background. Chaos, Fractals, and Dynamics, by R. L. Devaney, is also a good start. There is a longer book list at the end of the FAQ (see "What are some general references?").

Also, there are networked resources available, such as :

Exploring Fractals and Chaos

http://www.lib.rmit.edu.au/fractals/exploring.html

Fractal Microscope

http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Edu/Fractal/Fractal_Home.html

Dynamical Systems and Technology Project: a introduction for high-school students

http://math.bu.edu/DYSYS/dysys.html

An Introduction to Fractals (Written by Paul Bourke)

http://www.mhri.edu.au/~pdb/fractals/fracintro/

Fractals and Scale (by David G. Green)

http://life.csu.edu.au/complex/tutorials/tutorial3.html

What are fractals? (by Neal Kettler)

http://www.vis.colostate.edu/~user1209/fractals/fracinfo.html

Fract-ED a fractal tutorial for beginners, targeted for high school/tech school students.

http://www.ealnet.com/ealsoft/fracted.htm

Mandelbrot Questions & Answers (without any scary details) by Paul Derbyshire

http://chat.carleton.ca/~pderbysh/mandlfaq.html

Godric's fractal gallery. A brief introduction to Fractals clear and well illustrated explanations

http://www.gozen.demon.co.uk/godric/fracgall.html

Lystad Fractal Info complex numbers and fractals

http://www.iglobal.net/lystad/lystad-fractal-info.html

Fractal eXtreme: fractal theory theoritical informations

http://www.cygnus-software.com/theory/theory.htm

Frode Gill Fractal pages mathematical and programming data about classical fractals and quaternions

http://www.krs.hia.no/~fgill/fractal.html

Fractals: a history

http://graffiti.cribx1.u-bordeaux.fr/MAPBX/louvet/history.html

Basic informations about fractals

http://graffiti.cribx1.u-bordeaux.fr/MAPBX/louvet/jpl1a.html

Fantastic Fractals a very comprehensive site with tutorials for beginners and more advanced readers, workshops etc.

http://library.advanced.org/12740/cgi-bin/welcome.cgi

Chaos, Fractals, Dimension: mathematics in the age of the computer by Glenn Elert. A huge (>100 pages double-spaced) essay on chaos, fractals, and non-linear dynamics. It requires a moderate math background, though is not aimed at the mathematician.

http://www.columbia.edu/~gae4/chaos/

Mathsnet this site has several pages devoted to fractals and complex numbers.

http://www.anglia.co.uk/education/mathsnet/

Fractals in Your Future by Ronald Lewis <ronlewis@sympatico.ca>

http://www.eureka.ca/resources/fiyf/fiyf.html