Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals and the art of roughness

www.ted.com At TED2010, mathematics legend Benoit Mandelbrot develops a theme he first discussed at TED in 1984 -- the extreme complexity of roughness, and the way that fractal math can find order within patterns that seem unknowably complicated.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

[@silasb1293]

He died in October of the same year :( Rest in peace, you legend.

[@joenuts8548]

Totally Not The FBI so sad 😢

[@usdjxavi]

Where are you hiding him fbi?

[@irukakudjira8154]

RIP and Huge Respect to Benoit Mandelbrot!

[@elsezenianagel5577]

He converted me from someone that couldn't do addition in my head to save my life, to a person that has come to love the beauty of mathematics, which helped me develop a greater understanding of how events in the universe are linked.

[@saurabhmhase4458]

Tell me more..

[@gbail9566]

Great complexity is simply described

[@TypeTipsLeonTsao]

It was the jackhammer at the end of the clip

[@thisvagabondlife7132]

I had a great algebra teacher in college and she totally changed my view of mathematics. Even though I still suck at mathematics I stand in awe.

[@vimal-cliobconsulting]

Ikr.

[@probablynotsatanic66]

What does Benoit B Mandelbrot's middle initial stand for? Benoit B Mandelbrot.

[@robertj.wiltshire2264]

Badass

[@jetpaq]

+Robert J. Wiltshire lol correct!

[@chrcor6055]

probablynotsatanic66 haha took me while to get the joke

[@abm8017]

**fractal intensifies**

[@JG-mt3rp]

Delightful!

[@imwithstupid086]

I love how he discussed everything with so much vigor, even at such an advanced age. RIP Benoit {Benoit [Benoit (Benoit B. Mandelbrot) Mandelbrot] Mandelbrot} Mandelbrot.

[@Moodboard39]

How the heck u understand what he saying lol subtitles

[@9GodsMusic]

I almost cried, i was so moved by the implications of this type of mathematics that he discovered. I will not forget the other equations, but this one more than anyone, has given me great solace since, to me it explains how nature and the universe works. Pure beauty, and I will never forget the fine man that discovered it.

[@scaprendering]

He gave me a job.As a fractal artist

[@v.a.i.s.a.k]

Same here. I was wonderstruck.

[@omerufuk]

"Bottomless wonders spring from simple rules, which are repeated without end."

[@Bolden47]

Consistency and discipline

[@ValentineBondar]

Do what you love, love what you do

[@tyson31415]

A true honor just to see him talk about this. He changed the world in so many ways that most people will never understand. The morning weather forecasts in the 80's where about 50% accurate for the next 12 hours. Depending on where you live, they're pretty much spot on for at least 3 days if not a week. His mathematical theories made this sort of thing possible.

[@squeegeemcgee]

I'll be damned. The year he died. Rest in Peace.

[@juubes5557]

9:20 Is he shaking and glitching or is it just my phone?

[@jacobemma7717]

Juubes happened to me too, must be the video

[@Kabitu1]

He is becoming one with the infinite mathematics of roughness. He has achieved true fractal enlightenment, sometimes it leaks through.

[@roofusonna1846]

Break in the Matrix.

[@KnakuanaRka]

I think it’s a glitch in the recording tech.

[@billytheweasel]

Mine's fine. Drugs, in fact, ARE bad - m'kay?

[@susanrosegale6646]

THIS is why I love knitting and crocheting - it is hard to explain but it helps.

[@axe863]

Dr. Mandelbrot was one of the greatest mathematicians that has ever lived. "Radical quants" have built upon his work and we currently have a far more realistic model of asset price dynamics than linear stochastic diff w/ Geometric BM ==> we have nonlinear stochastic diff w/ generalized endogenous multi-fractional multi-tempered stable motion.

[@xchurricane]

Easily hands down my favorite mathematician, what a wonderful presentation as well.

[@DaRealFiberOptix]

its amazing to see what a difference an active mind makes in old age

[@101m4n]

Complexity arising from simple rules. Sound familiar to anyone? Something very very deep is going on here, and we've only just scratched the surface of it.

[@lusv4316]

What’s your Snapchat/ other social media, we need to speak about this you’re completely right

[@Moodboard39]

Lol stop being so dramatic

[@Moodboard39]

No not familiar

[@101m4n]

@@Moodboard39 Speak for yourself

[@Moodboard39]

@@101m4n why you don't you stfu . Nothing deep here

[@quaveglass]

All delivered so well off the dome. No notes. Benoit you are cherished! Thanks for all the hard work!

[@afomi]

~11:20 - The three of them had incomplete proofs. They got together, and together they had the proof. They got a big medal in mathematics for proving things I've seen without being able to prove them.

[@derman077]

This man changed the course of human history for the better. I feel absolutely privileged to have heard him speak. Thank you Chris for TED Talks. This conference changed my life for the better.

[@abhijitchaudhuri2079]

The self similar shapes are amazing It points to the bottomless wonders of this creation Only Mathematics can able to find out the rhythm of nature. Fantastic curiosity and what a beautiful explanation.

[@briansmobile1]

bottomless wonders spring from simple rules... repeated without end. Simplicity is beauty. No?

[@HerbalEngineering]

Are you still around? How does it feel to get a reply to a 10 year old comment?

[@armanrai8563]

@@HerbalEngineering lol :)

[@crustyoldfart]

A superbly intelligent man who was also gentle and in a sense child-like, in that what he probably regarded as ' play ' gave all who could understand, a key into an incredibly beautiful world. He forever linked the concept that simplicity is underlain with complexity, and if approached in the right way the complexity is beautiful. The philosopher can meaningfully extend this analogy into many fields of human endeavour.

[@keplergso8369]

JS Bach was using fractals in his music. His works are very structured, and beauty appears. Bach felt that Nature is structured.

[@okzoomers]

In this talk, given near the very end of his life and career, one thing is clear: he knew he had earned the right to self-promote. Truly one of the greats.

[@madhumangaldas333]

just one letter out of place changes everyting.......... flutters by....... Who knew ? 🙄🦋

[@MrSlowThought]

The cartoon at the end was the best part... I almost escaped out before I realized it was part of the show, and it was the most important bit of the show. Good seeing Mandelbrot speak, but didn't learn much. The cartoon (the old man) was the inspirational part.

[@kynaston1474]

Such an amazing man and so influential in my own life. Thank you Benoit Mandelbrot for bringing some order into our chaos. You are missed.

[@tonytg9099]

Maybe words cannot describe the just how important this man is. I really hope they teach the children this stuff in schools, just for the simple reason of viewing nature as a whole.

[@heinzorse6007]

"please excuse me for sitting, i'm very old" what a gigachad

[@nickmagrick7702]

what a beautiful illustration of chaos (Roughness) in action in the video at the end.

[@stevemartin4249]

Been a fan of the mandlebrot set for a few years now, used it as a background print for my name card here in Japan. I use it as a kind of dynamic mandala, ermergence theory, or just 'what goes around, comes around'. Opened up a new world of metaphors to describe psychological phenomenon as well as the world. But from about 9:00, I couldn't help but to notice a glitch in the matrix. ;-)

[@breaneainn]

That's awesome, Benoit was an inspiration when i was a kid, his illumination of order out chaos was to me an insight on the blueprints of the universe. nice to hear him speak in the modern amphitheatre.

[@BinaryReader]

incredible, this man is a genius, we are so lucky to have him speak at TED. just wonderful.

[@Paganel75]

Strangely enough, almost nobody talks anymore about another feature discovered and demonstrated by Mandelbrot, which is Mandelbrot's law, which is to Zipf's law what the Van de Waals equation is to the Mariotte's one, and that he demonstrated using the notion of information costs proposed by Shannon (storage cost vs. usage cost) and just finding which usage function would minimize communication costs. A pure stoke of genius !

[@Jonathan-fw3pv]

Great examples of fractals in nature and markets

[@fxevolution1006]

There might be so many investments out there but if profits must be considered which is actually the sole aim of every investment then I'll advice you go into stock because it has a higher profit rate than most investments out there

[@stefanmccarthy6166]

Stock trading is a very profitable trade but many people fail to understand that in any trade you must go by a certain rule for you to succeed, you must have a reliable strategy for you to make profit.

[@nicolepata6511]

Alot of people these days are beginning to realize the profits of stock trading which honestly i feel it's amazing, like you said yet again it really profitable when the right strategy and indicator is in place

[@andrevalentine694]

investment requires good experience and knowledge to carry out a good and successful trade, I have lost a lot trying to trade all by myself

[@preshytradefx110]

That is the exact reason I advise both new and old investors to trade with a professional who understands the market quite well that way maximum profit is guaranteed I myself trade with expert Nicholas James, and I always worry less about loosing out on stock because of his market diversification strategy

[@jayjordan3970]

Wish I knew this when I started investing in stocks. can you please share his contact because trading the same stocks everyone is trading over and over again isn’t getting me no where

[@jaytea42]

Brilliant man, thank you for your contribution Mandlebrot!

[@euripideesshreds]

I'll remember him as a modern epic pioneer. His work has deeper implications than most. I say this is the guy who came up with proof of God in nature through sheer love for math and his ability to focus upon the hidden and tease it out. For me he married Formal Science and the infinite and gave us the signature of immortality. His baroque pattern is about the most Psychedelic visual yet. How humble he seems as he delights to reveal his story. I'd love to read a detailed bio. Someday a movie?

[@Biellopes9102]

how magnificent is to have a video like this?? From one of the greatest mathematicians to have ever lived!

[@yash1152]

20:46 i had seen this before - it's awesome watching again

[@prwexler]

This guy was something else. I'm just at the beginning of his book. His writings are to mathematics as Shakespeare's are to theater.

[@iammaxwelldemon]

a wonderful lecture, from a wonderful man, with a wonderful life... thanks Benoit Mandelbrot for all your great ideas, creations and new theories of geometry...

[@matrixistrue]

THANK YOU TED FOR POSTING SOMETHING LEGITIMATE

[@thierry0640]

Pour tout ce que vous nous avez enseigné, MERCI MONSIEUR MANDELBROT.

[@Decimaster321]

Haha, I was all excited for him to have some amazing and enlightening outlook on the Mandelbrot set, and he says what basically everyone says, "It's a really simple equation, and it's too complicated for me to even begin to describe it to you." Very entertaining talk :)

[@shantiajones8881]

That Liberty Mutual commercial at the end was the best example ever!!!

[@odidiayb429]

Thank you for your discovery

[@aminassadi5104]

I really appreciate this man and talk was awesome

[@abhishekshah11]

Such a profound personality.

[@DemonetisedZone]

Love listening to wise ppl. Could watch for hours👍

[@JackpotDen]

@SSPX3 you sir/madam have won my heart.

[@saultube44]

3 Months and 1 week and 1 day later, this fractal man traveled to the unknown fractal world, imaginary, as is the afterlife; left us with probably the best clue about the Universe for the progress of Humanity, since the invention of Computers

[@simpleman283]

all that, without mentioning hours minutes & seconds?

[@MsBHoopingAllure]

Thank you for posting this edifying lecture!

[@JM-sx1yy]

I’ve never seen this before. Thanks for sharing this

[@drasiella]

Thank you for beautuful visuals for psy trance

[@mojoturbo3708]

Simply amazing...

[@notme222]

@TheDentist27 Perhaps this will help: One of the problems with making electronics is that a basic component, the capacitor, relies on surface area. A symetrically-distributed surface area, no less. So if your capacitor needs 1 square mm of area, it seems impossible to build it smaller. Using Mandelbrot's fractal formulas, we can now design for greater surface area without increasing the footprint. It really is an essential part of modern design.

[@davidmakin6984]

Interesting that he mentions the cauliflower/broccoli fractal. Ever since the original Mandelbrot Set was discovered artists and mathematicians have been trying to find the 3D equivalent i.e. the mathematical version of cauliflower/broccoli. After many failed attempts e.g. involving Hypercomplex maths (Quaternions, Bicomplex etc.) which just don't work, eventually (in 2009) Paul Nylander tried the z^8+c version of a 3D method first developed by Daniel White. Although the z^2+c version did not look too great, switching to the higher power produced essentially the result everyone was waiting for. To find out more just search the Web and KZbin for "mandelbulb".

[@jbolo5378]

David Makin ooo

[@christiankamleh9562]

Thanks for sharing Mandelbulb, they're awesome!

[@gbail9566]

"You can do anything and get your career made." What a beautiful man.

[@JesseWilliams11]

You just blew my mind

[@paulobiber5907]

What a delightful wise man.

[@gulnorakhudoyberdieva5147]

Great presentation! Thank you so much. I assume there are opinions, in fact, proofs about managing complexity through a series of simple rules (simplicity). I personally like the idea of creating complex things by generating ideas or things that seem like "stupid" or "nonsense". At least I guess I understood that.

[@frankbraker]

@shakeyourdimsims "the concept of the length of a coastline" is what he said. One revelation provided by fractal geometry is that there is no standardized "length" of a coastline, because as you zoom in from 20 miles up, more and more detail is revealed, which continually lengthens the coastline as resolution is increased.

[@dabzdavid2378]

I guess no one watched the short animation at the end of the video.

[@esyrim]

the little film at the end was cute! :o

[@terezinhanogueira6912]

this guy is a fucking Genius, im an artist, and u used his work everyday ! thank you sir, you made my life better !

[@mikep4216]

Cool...absolutely amazing!!!

[@schulerlukas2720]

I wish he would see the development of 3d fractals its amazing

[@prwexler]

God, I wish I'd known that he was speaking in Long Beach, in 2010. I don't know how I would have squeezed my way in, but this would have been a pull-all-the-stops-to-get-a-ticket event.

[@ENr369]

What a fucking badass!

[@jetpaq]

+Edward Nygma agreeeeed!

[@MsGnor]

Yes, he is that!!! :))))

[@mopsnuf]

I study math but want to work outside academics. I encountered mr. Mandelbrot in a project, he's been one of my heroes since. What he did, how he did it and what he thought of is all still so massively impressive. Awesome.

[@Willayam91]

Awesome talk! I wanna be as cool as him when I'm that old!

[@travisn2it]

I've been designing a tattoo based on the Mandelbrot set, Chaos theory, and the bz reaction. I plan to have it done in the next week or two.

[@Talazorn]

That comment made my day! congratulations sir!

[@nachoijp]

Trying to understand a polish talking in english while being spanish is one of the hardest things I ever tried to do... Ted should add the subtitles to the videos (the have them on the site)

[@Moodboard39]

Exactly! Stupid people. Idk how anyone could understand wtf he saying with that bad English

[@Claudette68]

I am Hispanic also and I can understand not only his pronunciation but also his grammar. Sound like us

[@kevinrothi]

This man is a hero of mine. His ideas changed the way I perceive the world. He will truly be missed and the world has lost a towering intellect.

[@oikos342]

such an amazing mind

[@crudhousefull]

It was mind-boggling to see Mandelbrot speak. Wow...what a giant

[@Nyxtia]

@Jinmane Those are excellent, I particularly liked 'Coloured Fibres'.

[@ZX81v2]

LOL 44 people think this is a thumbs down video... One of the most brilliant Mathematicians of the 20th century. Seems you can't fix stupid....

[@user-vx1wt4hb5l]

Yup. that's another rule nature can be described by.

[@Truthiness231]

Should have invented the "dancing ovation" for this talk; a standing ovation isn't good enough.

[@cesarmaurera1]

Amazing ...

[@euripideesshreds]

@SSPX3 I am flattered. Thank you. I tried to check you out but Ch.N/A. Anyway you just made my day. Yet I'm not trolling for complements. TED has the smartest people so... what company to be with! I would say so much more but Demure to reflect the humility of our guy here. What they don't say here that I will mention is that he survived the WWll in Germany in hiding for 4 years as a younger man.( I just found the cool documentary moments ago).

[@lvecsey]

algorithmic information theory actually explores the most dense (or simple) rules that output a given set of complexity. taken under that light the biological systems we see around us are redundant (for reliability and fail safety) marvels of engineering.

[@AlternicityBlogspot]

13:10 See also Taleb: Black Swan

[@PUTHENTHOPE]

Why did the Nobel Prize committee cannot understand this genius, or they purposefully forgetting him? If I could incorporate Dr. Mandelbrot's Fractal Geometry in my finance research, I'd be fulfilled. May his soul rest in peace.

[@Moodboard39]

Wtf that have to do finance

[@frosthazard]

Rest in peace Dr. Mandelbrot. My hero.

[@FractalPrism.]

i feel so personally explained in detail rn

[@boggo3848]

Great man.

[@valeo626]

DUDE, SWEET TALK, BROT

[@1schwererziehbar1]

@thernr ah now i see what you meant. thanks for clearing that up.

[@MikeinMr]

Amazing person

[@holdmybeer]

sweet topic TED!

[@samk8890]

very good lecture

[@marvinsaintnasisr.siarot9756]

I've been a fan of Mandlebrot Set. I named my son after him.

[@hellavadeal]

@thernr That is interestingly honest of you. Thanks. Have a good day.

[@HeavyPhoton]

R.I.P. Great master :(

[@staytrue4201]

elegant genius

[@Buoy2]

@SSPX3 excellent!!

[@Francebras]

Superb!!!

[@Si-Al-Ti]

15:41 looks like painting by Klimt

[@angelkana]

Brilliant! :D

[@jonathanjollimore4794]

Yea trying applying this to some stuff now have mind go boom boom

[@CrrackTheSkye]

I did not understand it entirely and I'll have to watch it again, but mister Mandelbrot is an amazing scientist.

[@Moodboard39]

Lol how can anyone understand wtf he saying