Fractals, Graphics, and Mathematics Education

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Summary: See how fractals can be part of the math curriculum
Review: When I teach computer programming, the sections that raise the greatest amount of interest are those that involve the manipulation of images. Therefore, it is natural to me that any mathematics that involves the manipulation of images would generate a great deal of student interest. I was a working mathematician when the concept of fractals hit the world, and like so many others was caught up in the excitement. I wrote programs to generate them and read all of the major books.
That was almost two decades ago, and the field has continued to expand. In this book, you will read about projects where math teachers have incorporated fractals into the curriculum. It is no surprise to me that it was almost universally a success, the sheer beauty of the fractal images guarantees interest and the increase in computing power has made the generation of images much easier. Many of the first images I created required overnight runs, something that can be done in minutes today.
The fact that the images do model much of the natural world also increases the interest. Nature is irregular and unpredictable in the micro sense, and fractals give us a way to describe and maybe understand it. The articles are all well written and easy to follow, and many different types of projects are demonstrated. Some of the papers describe the structure of courses in fractals, so if you have an interest in creating such a course, you can find your point of origin.
While fractals have occasionally suffered from the common malady of being oversold, they do provide a bridge between mathematics and the real world. Therefore, the study of fractals should be part of the mathematics curriculum, and in this book you can read about how many people have successfully done it. Another quality book on contemporary mathematics, it should be part of the next iteration of library purchases everywhere.