ReadMe

Robert P. Munafo, 2009 Jan 21

This file describes Robert Munafo's Mandelbrot Set Glossary amd Encyclopedia, how to get it, and how to use it.

The Mandelbrot Set Glossary and Encyclopedia (hereafter called "Mu-Ency") includes material from many sources, compiled over many years. It is intended to cover everything that is known about the Mandelbrot Set and which is capable of being understood by those with mathematics ability up to and including college freshman calculus. More complex knowledge is presented using language that can be understood by readers of this level.

Content

One central purpose of Mu-Ency is to present a naming system (The R2 system) which can be used to specify features of the Mandelbrot Set in a non-ambiguous manner. This naming system, while complex, is greatly preferable to the use of coordinates because it allows serious Mandelbrot explorers to apply organization to the many, many images they view. It is by far the most comprehensive such system yet developed.

Mu-Ency includes much material relating to computer programming. Exploring the Mandelbrot Set requires rather complex programs, because the simple algorithm (compute and plot each pixel) is much too slow for interactive browsing.

Sources

The material in Mu-Ency comes from three sources:

writings of Benoit B. Mandelbrot and other recognized mathematicians (see Bibliography).
Various individuals on the Internet, including students, teachers, programmers, mathematicians, etc.
My own observations, analysis and conclusions.

Disclaimer

Mathematical terms and concepts have probably been misused in some instances. This is due primarily to ignorance on my part. I invite more knowledgeable readers to constructively criticize with regard to such errors.

Format

Mu-Ency is presented to the user in fairly simple HTML, mostly text with simple formatting. This HTML is automatically generated from plain ASCII text files, which are very similar to plain text files except for very simple markup for *italic*, #boldface#, etc. This source text is similar to Wikitext but is even easier to use and understand.

Each mu-ency article has an identifying name called the heading, by which it is referred in cross-references. Each file is an "article" styled after the entries in an encyclopedia. There are many cross-references, and an automatically generated index. There are many illustrations, most in text-only format. Most views of the Mandelbrot Set were rendered using an ASCII graphics algorithm, and more important images are also shown in JPG format.

Distribution

Mu-Ency is currently provided as a set of HTML files via an HTTP server. The URL is:

http://www.mrob.com/pub/mu-ency.html

To get an alphabetical listing of all Mu-Ency headings, use:

http://www.mrob.com/pub/mu-index.html

The URL of this file is:

http://www.mrob.com/pub/mu-ency/readme.html

Mu-ency main page — index — recent changes — DEMZ

This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2022 Mar 28.

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