Jonathan Coulton 5-15-09 - Mandelbrot Set

Jonathan Coulton performs his tribute to the great mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot.
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 Zs should always stay
Close to Z and never trend away
That point is in the Mandelbrot Set
Mandelbrot Set youre a Rorschach Test on fire
Youre a day-glo pterodactyl
Youre a heart-shaped box of springs and wire
Youre one badass fucking fractal
And youre just in time to save the day
Sweeping all our fears away
You can change the world in a tiny way
Mandelbrots in heaven, at least he will be when hes dead
Right now hes 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 youre a Rorschach Test on fire
Youre a day-glo pterodactyl
Youre a heart-shaped box of springs and wire
Youre one badass fucking fractal
And youre just in time to save the day
Sweeping all our fears away
You can change the world in a tiny way
And youre 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
The verses are : E A F#m A B E (repeat)
then the chords get nice and flavourful: Amaj7 Emaj7 (repeat twice more) F#m B E
Sprinkle in some Esus2 and Esus4 to emulate the nifty synthesizer line.
Another verse as above, then the pre-chorus bit: E E Esus4 Esus4 and other fun noodling things as you recite mathematical formulae, and so on.
then more pre-chorus bit: A A B B Ab Ab C#m C#m, A B E
The the chorus (I encourage dancing while playing it: take no pity on fragile objects near you, unless they are fragile relatives) B E B E E7, F#m Amaj7 F#m Amaj7 F#m A E
Repeat various bits until achieving mathematical enlightenment.

[@SoroshPalid]

I guess im the only one in 2024 who listening to this masterpeace. What a shame... im alone

[@chickendoodle32]

Nope

[@chickendoodle32]

Im here from the Loops

[@TrootsD2]

"Mandelbrots in heaven, at least he will be when hes dead " He is now :C

[@Ramorek]

Please come to sweden!! :)

[@comradestinger]

ya come to sweden!

[@jig0ku]

go to sweden already