Simply put, fractals are complex images of extraordinary beauty which arise out of fairly simple mathematical functions. One feature which distinguishes a fractal image from other types of graphics is its property of self-similarity; an arbitrarily small region of a fractal looks like the entire fractal. Thus, fractals are analogous to DNA: just as all the information for a living organism is contained in its DNA, so does a small region (as small as you'd like!) contains all the information for the "parent" image. Here is a list of various different types of fractal images. Just select from the list to see an image. Blowups of the Mandelbrot set are particularly interesting, as are some of the Julia sets. The Mandelbrot set was named after Benoit Mandelbrot, a mathematician who did much of the modern-day pioneering of fractal imaging and applications. The Julia set was named after Gaston Julia, a French mathematician who, around the timeof World War I, did a lot of work in a branch of Mathematics which led to fractals.
