What Is A Fractal: Are Cats Fractals?

What a ridiculous question. So were the questions “Does gravity travel in waves?” and “How does color work?”. Maybe this question will be a legacy of the soon-to-be-greats. I can prove that cats are fractals or at least the shape of a cat is. First of all, what are fractals?

Fractals are something found in nature. It is a mathematical term for something that you could “zoom in” on forever. Part of this design is the exact same as the whole including itself. Imagine a snowflake. Snowflakes often have points that are a fractal. If you look at the end of a snowflake you’ll see a whole snowflake, if you look at the end you’ll see the whole snowflake over and over again. If you’re still confused about what fractals are I suggest the article What Are Fractals? By Fractal Foundation. So your paper snowflake will never be accurate. I guess you could make it close if you spent a lot of time, but what second grader knows what a fractal is anyway?

So why am I asking about cats? Really I could use any noun, but I like cats. Obviously, on a cats tail, there isn’t a replica kitten. But if you look close enough isn’t every shape in something solid? For example, take a piece of paper. Look at that paper. You could draw any shape with an outline so that shape is there.

So here’s my idea: every shape is in a piece of hair if you zoom in enough every shape is there. Therefore the exact shape of a cat is there. In that cat, the shape is there again making it a fractal. Although it would technically end. Or would it? Atoms still have matter, even protons, neutrons and electrons have matter. Therefore there is a shape to be found. One day we might find out even more about atoms. Mass cannot end if you choose a spot and look closer and closer at it forever it won't stop. Thus cats go on forever and there is always a smaller shape to be found.

Can everything be a fractal? The simple answer is yes. We are talking about nouns, the word noun can encompass everything that the word fractal encompasses. Like real numbers and rational numbers. Learn more about those numbers in my previous essay What Is Pi: Discovering Pi.

Now that we’ve established that, who can I take up my issue with? Apparently, it was Benoît Mandelbrot who put it into words. He is a Polish-born French-American mathematician who developed a lot of the mathematical advancements in the 20th century. Also according to himself is an economist, polymath specialist, a physicist and an artist. Basically, he’s a super genius. You know what, look at the time.

So cats are fractals. But who cares? I don’t suggest you try to look at your cat close enough to test this. This article directly contradicts my article What Is Infinity: Imagine Infinity where I explained that physical infinity doesn’t exist. Whereas here I said that matter never ends, you can keep zooming in. Maybe that's the spirit of math I don’t know which is correct, and I don’t intend to try to figure it out.