Mandelbrot set
noun
Man·del·brot set
ˈman-dəl-ˌbrät- 
-ˌbrȯt-
: a fractal that when plotted on a computer screen roughly resembles a series of heart-shaped disks to which smaller disks are attached and that consists of a connected set of all points c in the complex plane for which the recursive expression zn+1 = zn2 + c for n = 0, 1, 2, 3, … with the starting value z0 = 0 remains bounded as n approaches infinity
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The complexity of the Mandelbrot set emerges in part because it is defined in terms of numbers that are themselves, well, complex.
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Jordana Cepelewicz, Quanta Magazine, 27 Feb. 2024
Others show hints of shapes that foreshadow the iconic Mandelbrot set.
—Marissa Fessenden, Scientific American, 21 Dec. 2012
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Jordana Cepelewicz, Quanta Magazine, 27 Feb. 2024
Others show hints of shapes that foreshadow the iconic Mandelbrot set.
—Marissa Fessenden, Scientific American, 21 Dec. 2012
Cite this Entry
“Mandelbrot set.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Mandelbrot%20set. Accessed 5 Sep. 2025.
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