Engineering Curriculum at Coronado High School: 2010 - 2014

Monday, October 17, 2011

Recursion

Iterative design is a cornerstone of the Creative Problem Solver experience. Here's a nifty video that displays the connection between iteration/recursion and the Madelbrot Fractal:




Recursion within this human constructed fractal is interesting to us because:

"Approximate fractals are easily found in nature. These objects display self-similar structure over an extended, but finite, scale range. Examples include clouds, river networks, fault lines, mountain ranges, craters,[8] snow flakes,[9] crystals,[10] lightning, cauliflower or broccoli, and systems of blood vessels and pulmonary vessels, and ocean waves" - Excerpted from Wikipedia

The idea that recursive structures occur naturally adds weight to the idea of using an iterative process in design and problem solving.

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