Governors School for the

Sciences

Mathematics
Day 9

MOTD: Sofia Kovalevskaya

1850 to 1891
Worked on
differential equations
Considered the first
woman mathematician

Self-Similarity
Typical feature of a fractal is selfsimilarity, i.e. where parts look like
the whole:

How to create self-similarity

Multiple Reduction Copy Machine:
a copy machine with K lenses
each lens makes a copy of the image
reduces it and places it on the copy
Substitution Rules:
rule for each geometric object (GO)
replace a GO with other GOs

Multiple Reduction Copy

Machine (MRCM)
3 lens example
Take the output and run it back
through the copier

How to create a MRCM

Each lens is a geometric
transformation which maps the whole
to a part
Identify the tranformations by
marking the parts in the whole

0
T1 = @
0
T2 = @
0
T3 = @

1
2

0 0
1
0 2 0A
0 0 1
1
1
1
0 2
2
1
0 2 0 A
0 0 1
1
1
1
0 4
2
1
1 A
0 2 2
0 0 1

Using a MRCM
Start with a figure
Apply all the transformations to
create a new figure
Apply all the tranformations to this
new figure to get another new figure
Repeat ad infinitum
Can also do randomly (Tuesday)

Results
If all the transformations are contractions
(i.e. move points closer together) then the
original figure will be reduced to an
unidentifiable dot and thus the final figure
does not depend on the original figure!
If the original figures has N points and the
MRCM has k lenses then after M copies on
the MRCM the figure has kM N points.

Twin Christmas Tree

Sierpinski Carpet

3-fold Dragon

Cantor Maze

Substitution Rules (SR)

For each geometric object in a figure,
have a rule that replaces it by a
collection of other geometric objects
By doing this over and over with the
same rules, you get a fractal image
Following are some examples

Given any line segment, replace it by a series

of (connected) line segments starting and
ending at the same endpoints as the original
line, for example:

Given a triangle, replace by three triangles by

connecting the side midpoints and discarding
the middle

Building a SR
Just like in the MRCM, the maps from
the original object to the new pieces
in the substitution rule are geometric
transformations
Main difference from the MRCM is
that the original figure must be the
correct original geometric object that
defines the rule

Short Break
Demo of Geometers Sketch Pad by
Laura
How to construct transformations
Lab time

Building Transformations
Three types: line to line, triangle to
triangle, square to parallelogram
Process is to either solve in general
or build from basic transformations
Final form always looks like:
|a b c |
T = |d e f |
|0 0 1 |

Work it out:
Construct a transformation that
takes the line segment [(0,0)->(1,0)]
to the line segment [(1,2)->(2,3)]
Construct a transformation that
takes the unit square (LL at (0,0)) to
a square the size with LL at (, )

Line to Line
Segment: (0,0)->(1,0) to (a,b)->(c,d)
Transformation:
| c-a b-d a |
T = | d-b c-a b |
| 0
0 1 |
Built as a rotation and a scaling
followed by a translation

Triangle to Triangle
Start with the general form
|a b c |
T = |d e f |
|0 0 1 |
Original: (xi,yi), Target: (ui,vi) i=1,2,3
Solve the system for a,,f:
a*xi + b*yi + c = ui
d*xi + e*yi + f = vi
Six equations for 6 unknowns\
Can also build from basic transforms, esp. if
original is a standard triangle

Square to Quadrilateral
If restricting to linear
transformations only, then just use
matching 3 points from each figure
and use triangle technique
If allowing more general
transformations, then use bilinear
form and solve for the coefficients

Lab Preview
Enter the data for your name as a list of
pairs of points
For each segment construct a
transformation
Draw your name, but for each segment,
replace it with your name by applying all the
transformations to the segment
Challenge: go one level deeper, i.e. replace
the segments in the replacement with your
name