Teaching Fractals to Ninth Graders

profhiggins

(sorry if this is in the wrong section) I teach a ninth grade class at a public high school and had a student ask me a question about fractals. We were reviewing complex numbers in Algebra 2 when she asked me how to write the equation of a fractal. How would I explain this or go about teaching this to a high schooler?

nonequilibrium

The idea is actually pretty easy to explain once the student knows complex numbers, isn't it? But maybe for inspiration you can check how some authors do it for their readers, e.g. Penrose in The Emperor's New Mind (excellent book, fyi).

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profhiggins	Teaching Fractals to Ninth Graders (sorry if this is in the wrong section) I teach a ninth grade class at a public high school and had a student ask me a question about fractals. We were reviewing complex numbers in Algebra 2 when she asked me how to write the equation of a fractal. How would I explain this or go about teaching this to a high schooler?

nonequilibrium	The idea is actually pretty easy to explain once the student knows complex numbers, isn't it? But maybe for inspiration you can check how some authors do it for their readers, e.g. Penrose in The Emperor's New Mind (excellent book, fyi).