On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 1:40 PM, Dan Bron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> To get a feel for the obstacles I'm encountering, and what might make it
> hard to give voice to a fractal, try writing the Dragon Curve in J:
...
> However, do so only by looking at the plot:
>
> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Fractal_dragon_curve.jpg/263px-Fractal_dragon_curve.jpg
>
> That is: do not read the algorithmic description of the curve in Wikipedia,
> and don't make reference to the programs listed on the Dragon Curve
> rosettacode task.

Well.. I'm not much on deliberate ignorance -- I quite often will search for
additional information when trying to solve problems.  However, in this case,
I have avoided looking at the full information about this fractal.

That said, I am uncertain from looking at the plot what is considered to
be the fractal.  Does it require the colors, or are they just a hint?  Is the
fractal really solid?  Or is that also just a hint?  Perhaps it's the vertices?
Or does their sequence also matter -- implying some kind of linear form?

Each of the geometric aspects obviously has some relation to the other
geometric aspects and to the topological aspects, but I would need to
understand the form of the problem before I could even begin to think
about representing the problem in that form.

> If you can describe the Dragon Curve mechanicistically in English, the
> method of description and the tools you employ might help me do the same
> for my own fractal.

Looking at it from a very abstract sense, it seems to have a large scale
structure of threes.  This probably implies a before/during/after structure.
But, to take that any further, I need to understand which direction I should
be taking it.

Also, Cliff Reiter has far, far more experience with fractals than I.  He can
probably give considerably more concrete advice than I could (and is less
likely to get caught up in fundamental issues than I).

-- 
Raul
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