Mandelbrot Set -- Jonathan Coulton & Paul and Storm at Melkweg, Amsterdam on 13 June 2011
Channel: Angela Brett
Date: 2011-06-27

Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm singing Jonathan's song Mandelbrot Set at Melkweg, Amsterdam on 13 June 2011. Some people say this song is an inaccurate description of the Mandelbrot set, but apart from not saying what C is, I don't see the problem with it. You can get the song from http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/Mandelbrot%20Set

Pathological monsters! cried the terrified mathematician 
Every one of them is a splinter in my eye 
I hate the Peano Space and the Koch Curve 
I fear the Cantor Ternary Set 
And the Sierpinski Gasket makes me want to cry 
And a million miles away a butterfly flapped its wings 
On a cold November day a man named Benoit Mandelbrot was born 

His disdain for pure mathematics and his unique geometrical insights 
Left him well equipped to face those demons down 
He saw that infinite complexity could be described by simple rules 
He used his giant brain to turn the game around 
And he looked below the storm and saw a vision in his head 
A bulbous pointy form 
He picked his pencil up and he wrote his secret down 

Take a point called Z in the complex plane 
Let Z1 be Z squared plus C 
And Z2 is Z1 squared plus C 
And Z3 is Z2 squared plus C and so on 
If the series of Z's should always stay 
Close to Z and never trend away 
That point is in the Mandelbrot Set 

Mandelbrot Set you're a Rorschach Test on fire 
You're a day-glo pterodactyl 
You're a heart-shaped box of springs and wire 
You're one badass fucking fractal 
And you're just in time to save the day 
Sweeping all our fears away 
You can change the world in a tiny way 

Mandelbrot's in heaven,
[This part no longer sung since Mandelbrot died: 
at least he will be when he's dead 
Right now he's still alive and teaching math at Yale ]
He gave us order out of chaos, he gave us hope where there was none 
And his geometry succeeds where others fail 
If you ever lose your way, a butterfly will flap its wings 
From a million miles away, a little miracle will come to take you home 

Just take a point called Z in the complex plane 
Let Z1 be Z squared plus C 
And Z2 is Z1 squared plus C 
And Z3 is Z2 squared plus C and so on 
If the series of Zs should always stay 
Close to Z and never trend away 
That point is in the Mandelbrot Set 
Mandelbrot Set you're a Rorschach Test on fire 
You're a day-glo pterodactyl 
You're a heart-shaped box of springs and wire 
You're one badass fucking fractal 
And you're just in time to save the day 
Sweeping all our fears away 
You can change the world in a tiny way 
And you're just in time to save the day 
Sweeping all our fears away 
You can change the world in a tiny way 
Go on change the world in a tiny way 
Come on change the world in a tiny way