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How to Fold a Julia Fractal

Resurfaced independently across 7 calendar years, with breakout response in 2 of them.

submissions
13
submitters
13
observed span
2013–2024
peak thread · 47 comments
231 pts
latest 20+ return · 2024-02-20
68 pts

Submission timeline

2007–2026

One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.

First comments on top threads

HN comment order

I'm not sure if it was the visual aids (which were outstanding), or simply how the subject was approached and written about, but that article finally gave me an intuitive understanding of "complex numbers" that i've never quite gotten before. Sure, they were nice for some types of coordinate/vector math, but why they were nice always seemed to be something I missed. The warping of the coordinate system that you get when squaring is probably the key. It totally explained…

pdkl95·231-point thread·

More than being an intro to Julia fractals, I think this post is a great introduction to complex numbers and functions of the complex plane[1]. The way this is presented is very similar to how most math-folk I know picture these concepts in their head. This is probably one of the toughest things for beginners, who don't understand that (most) math-folk think in pictures like this and not in symbols. For example, starting at around Slide 29 in the first…

jfarmer·171-point thread·

I love visual math like this so much. I had a professor at my alma mater, UC Santa Cruz, who made a textbook called “Illustrated Theory of Numbers”, and it’s just beautiful. Marty Weissman, check it out sometime

The author made this using MathBox, which was previously discussed here. http://acko.net/blog/making-mathbox/

The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.

Breakout years
2

100+ points or 50+ comments

Total points
570

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Total comments
94

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Every submission

DateTitle as submittedByPointsComments
2013-01-06How to fold a a Julia fractal (MathBox)archgoon204
2013-04-28How to Fold a Julia Fractal msvan70
2013-08-26How to fold a Julia fractaloutworlder31
2014-04-08How to fold a Julia fractalxtacy10
2014-06-16How to Fold a Julia FractalFirst breakout · Best threadbpierre23147
2015-01-06How to fold a Julia fractalcarljoseph10
2015-02-16How to Fold a Julia Fractalsabalaba40
2015-08-22How to Fold a Julia Fractalrosstex17129
2020-12-16How to Fold a Julia Fractal (2013)kevinskii30
2021-01-17How to Fold a Julia Fractal – A tale of numbers that like to turnthunderbong20
2022-04-06How to fold a Julia fractal (2013)graderjs20
2022-07-24How to fold a Julia fractal (2013)mkl576
2024-02-20How to Fold a Julia Fractal (2013)Latest 20+ point returnahiknsr687