Harvested

[Henry Hawk]

Benoît B. Mandelbrot, discoverer of Mandelbrot sets (also known as fractals)
HARVESTED at 85.

Did you know that the B in Benoît B. Mandelbrot stands for Benoît B. Mandelbrot?

[Locutus]

I didn't until I read those notes on Wikipedia. 

That is interesting though, but probably only to a computer scientist or mathematician. 

"It is, however, widely rumored in popular culture that his middle initial B. stood for Benoit B. Mandelbrot, an allusion to recursion and fractals."

[Locutus]

"To understand recursion, you must understand recursion."

-- Hunter, David (2011). Essentials of Discrete Mathematics

[Locutus]

As an interesting aside to this recursion comment, and to illustrate the truthfulness of the above statement, I'll tell a quick story. 

I was once teaching freshman computer science students in their first programming class at a major university.  I was explaining recursion, and the requirement of having a clearly defined exit condition in recursive functions in order to prevent infinite loops.  I chose to use a Fibonacci sequence algorithm for my illustration.

A Fibonacci sequence is defined as:

    F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2) where F(0)=0 and F(1)=1.

I then proceeded to write some pseudocode to illustrate the generation of the first 10 terms.

When I got to the end, an older woman who had chosen to go back to school raised her hand.  When I called on her, she said, "Mr. Locutus, I don't have any idea what the hell you're talking about."   

She dropped the class soon afterwards. 

[Henry Hawk]

Maybe you should have wrote an infinate amount of terms, then maybe she would have understood.

[Locutus]

She also might still be sitting in that classroom staring at the whiteboard. 

[Henry Hawk]

She also might still be sitting in that classroom staring at the whiteboard. 

I would probably be sitting there right next to her.....

[Locutus]

[Locutus]

Hans Riegel creator of gummibärchen (a.k.a. Gummi Bears) HARVESTED at age 90.

[Henry Hawk]

He led a sweet life....

[Bo D]

Benoît B. Mandelbrot, discoverer of Mandelbrot sets (also known as fractals)
HARVESTED at 85.

Very sad, I have played with fractal generators since the mid-80s. I used to generate fractal landscapes for a flight simulator and then fly through them.

Here is a link to a cool site ....

http://www.fractalsciencekit.com/

[libby]

 

Very sad, I have played with fractal generators since the mid-80s. I used to generate fractal landscapes for a flight simulator and then fly through them.

Here is a link to a cool site ....

http://www.fractalsciencekit.com/

Fractals. I looked at the site, and wish I knew enough about the subject to ask an intelligent question, but I don't.

[libby]

I would probably be sitting there right next to her.....

Me, too, HH. It takes me about 3 1/2 months to assimilate a new subject. 

[Locutus]

Me, too, HH. It takes me about 3 1/2 months to assimilate a new subject. 

And if it's a recursive subject, it's:

3 1/2 months + 3 1/2 months + 3 1/2 months + 3 1/2 months + 3 1/2 months + 3 1/2 months ......

[libby]

And if it's a recursive subject, it's:

3 1/2 months + 3 1/2 months + 3 1/2 months + 3 1/2 months + 3 1/2 months + 3 1/2 months ......