FOTD -- January 19, 2012 (Rating 8) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today's fractal image is a scene on the main spike of its parent fractal, which is an over-sized Mandelbrot set corrupted by order-7 elements. The scene is located just beyond the large minibrot on the main spike, at a magnitude where the minibrots have totally morphed into order-7 ones with 6 bays. These tiny order-7 minibrots are clearly visible, scattered all around the large central minibrot. But in the world of fractals, things do not always go as we expect, and today's image is certainly a good example. I named the image "Mystery Theater" because of the mysterious things happening in it. To begin, the large minibrot has 12 bays, which would make it of order-13, a prime number that exists nowhere in the generating expression. To make things worse, the minibrot is surrounded by 14 elements, which would appear to make it of order-14. My first thought was that the large minibrot is actually a partial merging of two order-7 minibrots. Sometimes this does happen. But if this is the case, the merging in today's image is the most perfect I have yet stumbled upon. With no obvious rational explanation for all the mathematical craziness, the image remains a mystery. All in all, the image fully earns its name. The rating of an 8 is based mostly on the mathematical interest, though the artistic value is not to be ignored. The calculation time of 24 seconds is about as fast as FOTD fractals ever get, and will not test the patience of even the most impatient fractalist. Experience the satisfaction of escaping the task of calculation by viewing the finished image on the FOTD web site at: <http://www.crosscanpuzzles.com/Archives.html> Experience the total bliss of seeing the image in high- definition at: <http://www.emarketingiseasy.com/TESTS/FOTD/jim_muths_fotd.html> And remember to check the entire library of past images at: <http://www.Nahee.com/FOTD/> The brilliant sun that burst forth at sunrise today here at Fractal Central did not last long. By midday, the clouds had moved in, and by afternoon, snow was threatening. The fractal cats were more concerned about the chilly morning temperature of 16F -9C than with the forecast of light snow. They demanded more warmth. FL and I, the local humans, had an uneventful day, which was pleasant to experience but makes dull reporting. The next FOTD will be posted in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and yesterday's question about the island south of Antarctica was indeed a trick question. I occasionally get into discussions about relativity, and have a very difficult time explaining why it is impossible to travel through space faster than the velocity of light. As I try to explain it, trying to travel faster than light is like mounting an expedition to that island. Any effort is bound to fail. There is no such thing as traveling south from the southernmost point on the globe; there is no such thing as traveling through space faster than the highest possible velocity. At the speed of light, space along the direction of motion shrinks to zero. It does this for the same reason that the width of a sheet of paper shrinks to zero when viewed edge-on, and then there is no space left to travel through. If it were possible to go even "faster", one would be traveling through time, not space. Jim Muth jimmuth@earthlink.net START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Mystery_Theater { ; time=0:00:24.00 SF5 at 2000MHZ reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=basicer.frm formulaname=MultiExp function=recip center-mag=-35.73697608855773/0/21270/0.9541 params=7/20 float=y maxiter=1750 inside=0 logmap=62 symmetry=xaxis periodicity=6 colors=00008C09F0AI0BL0CO0ER0GU0IX0K_0Mb2Oe4Rh7TkA\ WnDZqFZtGawHduIczJ`zJYvKVtLSqLPkMMeNKcNIaOH_OGYRIV\ TKTWLRYNO_PMbQKdSIgUFiVDkXBnZ9p_6sa4uc2wd0oe2ge3_f\ 4Sf5Lf6TkG_pPguYnzf_znLvuLqlKhcJbVIZMHUDGU5GO7FK9F\ EAFCCG0EG7FH7HH8JI8KI8MJ8OJ8PK8RK8TK8UMCUOFUQIUTLU\ WOUZRUaUUbRZdOcfLhgJmbKkWLjRMiKNgEOf8PeESbJU_OWXTY\ UZ_RcaOhcLmeIgfNagSXhXRiaMifS8VOFTKMSGTRC_Q9fPNlM`\ qJZmIXiHVeGUaGZZMbWSfTXkQboNhsLmrT`r`OrgBacNL_Z4Wi\ A_dFc`LfXQjTVmPYfT``WcVZfOaiIdlCgo6jq7ls8mt8nv9pw9\ qyArzAsnKcbUPcWQdXRdYScZTb_Ua`U`aV_bVZbzYczXdzWezV\ fzUfzTgzThzSizRjzQjzPkzOlzNmzMnzLnzKozJpzIqzHrzHrz\ JmzKizMezN`zOXzQTzROzTKzUGzVCz_IzdNziSznYzsbzxgzve\ ztdzrczpbznazl`zj_zhZzfYzdXzbWz`cz_czYczWczUczJczS\ czQczOmzMmzKmzImzGmzEmzCmzomzmzzkzzizzgzzezzczzazz\ `zzZzzXzzVzzTzzRzzPzzOzzMzzKzzIzzGzzEzzCzzNzzMzzMz\ zLzzLzzKzzKzzJzzJzzIzzIzz } frm:MultiExp { ; Jim Muth z=(0,0), c=pixel, a=-(real(p1)-2), b=imag(p1)+0.00000000000000000001: z=z*z*fn1(z^(a)+b)+c |z| < 100000000 } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================