You're a heart-shaped box of springs and wires, you're one bad-ass fucking fractal

[maradydd]

Just pick a point, called z, in the complex plane;
Let z₁ be z squared plus c;
z₂ is z₁ squared plus c;
z₃ is z₂ squared plus c;
And so on. If the series of z's will always stay
Close to z and never trend away,
That point is in the Mandelbrot set. Mandelbrot set!...

If I have to have this song stuck in my head, then by God, so do at least some of the rest of you.

Comments

[misterpriapus.livejournal.com]

Never even heard of this song, much less heard it so...

[slithytove.livejournal.com]

It takes courage to rhyme 'fractal' with 'pterodactyl'.

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

Some of his other stuff is just as marvellous. I'm particularly fond of this bit from "Gambler's Prayer":

Deal me good cards and I'll handle the math
We'll take their money while they take a bath
I'll show them my hand and you'll show them your wrath
Oh Lord help me take money from my friends.

[enochsmiles.livejournal.com]

Damn you. Damn you.

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

Think of it this way: you will never, ever forget how the Mandelbrot set is defined, for as long as you live.

[enochsmiles.livejournal.com]

See, I wouldn't have anyway! Now I just have it set to music.

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

I wish more mathematics were set to music. (Let's ignore the innate tautology of that statement for the time being, okay?) Those Norse skalds knew what the hell they were doing; it's not just that the stories sound better when they're the musical accompaniment to fire and beer, it's that nobody can fucking forget them.

Maybe I should go home and write a song about the Poisson distribution. I always have to look that one up.