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Definition of "fractal" []

  • A geometric pattern that is repeated at ever smaller scales to produce irregular shapes and surfaces that cannot be represented by classical geometry. Fractals are used especially in computer modeling of irregular patterns and structures in nature. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "fractal" in a sentence
  • "Benoît Mandelbrot was that IBM employee who successfully measured the coastline of England in 1967, coined the term fractal in 1975 and opened new worlds in mathematics and now, I believe, human emotional understanding."
  • "Ancient Celts believed in a giant man, the Greeks observed some basic shapes, the word "fractal" was coined in the Seventies."
  • "A fractal is a geometric shape with a pattern that repeats itself at different scales of magnitude."