Fractals in Science, Engineering and Finance (Roughness and Beauty)
January 27, 2010
Just the other day a friend dropped over this great little lecture by Mandelbrot which discusses some of the fractal aspects of the world around us… Thanks Martin!
Fractals in Science, Engineering and Finance (Roughness and Beauty)
Roughness is ubiquitous and a major sensory input of Man. The first step to measure and simulate it was provided by fractal geometry. Illustrative examples will be drawn from the sciences, engineering (the internet) and (more extensively) the variation of financial prices. The beauty of fractals, an unanticipated “premium,” helps in teaching and bridges some chasms between different aspects of knowing and feeling.
To view this video, please click here.
OR to learn more about Benoît B. Mandelbrot, please visit his home page here.
[...] The statistical method shows the facts in the light of the ideal average but does not give us a picture of their empirical reality. While reflecting an indisputable aspect of reality, it can falsify the actual truth in a most misleading way. This is particularly true of theories which are based on statistics. The distinctive thing about real facts, however, is their individuality. Not to put too fine a point on it, one could say that the real picture consists of nothing but exceptions to the rule, and that, in consequence, absolute reality has predominantly the character of irregularity. [...]