Definition

We use the term “fractal” on this site under the following definition:

” Fractals are the emergent properties of a iterative feedback systems that exhibit both unpredictable and deterministic behaviours, forming patterns that manifest as complex coherent structures, with the property of self-similarity and scale invariance, displaying very specific boundary conditions, that have a fractal dimension that uniquely quantifies the level of complexity of the fractal pattern. “

If we call an object or concept fractal on this site, it shows the following properties:

  • scale invariance – the object is self similar over at least 3 orders of magnitude.
  • self similarity is not limited to physical structures. Often we talk about self similarity in time-patterns that only becomes obvious when depicted in a certain way (like tree-diagrams)
  • the pattern is caused by a (compareably) simple, iterative process
  • we include quasi selfsimilarity and multifractal systems into this definition