I returned to Weston yesterday for its 17th annual Fractal Fair. That’s a lot of fractal fairs! As you might expect for a subject that keeps evolving every year, with an entirely new set of exhibitors every year, the fair is always changing even if the basic precalculus curriculum has stayed largely the same. This year’s contributions were excellent, as usual, with a wide variety of topics, especially including a large number related to the human body, such as cancer, detection of heart disease, and airport security by iris identification (the eye, not the flower). I particularly enjoyed two different projects on fractals and music:

• one that analyzed the predictability of both the music and the lyrics in various songs to show how a mixture of predictability and unpredictability is most pleasing (see a post in my blog from five years ago)
• one that included a wonderful combination of a fractal melody that the presenters generated algorithmically, overlaid on a Bach cello suite and played live by one of the students on her cello.

Well done!

Here are some photos of just a few of the exhibits to give you an idea of the flavor of the show:

Categories: Math, Teaching & Learning, Weston