[Coco] printing out floating point numbers...(only peripherally related to coco)

[Robert Gault]

jdaggett at gate.net wrote:
><snip>
> I  have no knowledge of Mandlebrot printing. >
<snip>

Mandlebrot is a mathematician who's moment of fame was using a computer 
to draw a graphic representation of a special set of numbers. There was 
an article in Scientific American that presented the graphical 
techniques used and it seemed that every home computer was attempting to 
generate these patterns.

The set is fractal in nature which means no matter how small a slice of 
the set is taken, it can't be distinguished from any other part of the 
set or the entire set.

It has been quite some time since I've played with this and will have to 
search for my programs if there is any interest. However, the Mandelbrot 
set in the complex number plane is generated by the recursive formula
x -> x^2 + c . The graphic is made by calculating the value of the 
function over a window in the complex number plane and setting colors 
based on the results. The window of value is -2.25<realC<0.75,
-1.5<imagC<1.5.

On a Coco (whether Disk Basic, Basic-09, or C) one rapidly runs out of 
the required precision to zoom in on subsets of the function.

If there is any interest in this subject, I can post three book 
references (heavy math) where fractals and the Mandelbrot set in 
particular are discussed.