You will want to use two types of programs in this course: one to define Iterated Function Systems (IFS's) that generate fractals, and another to explore the Mandelbrot set and Julia sets.

IFS Software

There are two programs For IFS fractals written by Williams students, MacFrac and EphsIFS.

EphsIFS

EphsIFS was written by Jonathan Kallay '00. It is a Java program that that runs directly from the web site.Note: EphsIFS is now operational but requires testing. Students are asked to use the program and send detailed feedback to the author.

MacFrac

MacFrac, which was written by Mike Touloumtzis and David Lee as a project for Math 306, runs on the Macintosh. The program can be downloaded from the network:

Getting MacFrac

  1. Open Chooser.
  2. Click on the AppleShare icon
  3. Select the Greylock server in the Williams zone, and click OK.
  4. Select the Department H-Z shared directory.
  5. MacFrac is located in Math:Classes:Math 211:MacFracF.
You may copy this program to your disk.
Note: To print the final picture you have to do a screen dump: shift command 3. This creates a file on your desktop called Picture 1, then Picure 2, etc. Then click on that file and print.

There are two other programs for IFS fractals that you can access from the "Links" pointer and that can be run from the web. You will need a browser that can display Java applets (Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer 3.0 and above). If you don't have such a browser installed on your computer, you can get it from WSO.

Mandelbrot and Julia sets

To explore the Mandelbrot set you may use FracPPC This is a freeware program for the Macintosh PowerPC, which can be downloaded from this site. For the Mac.

You will find some PC programs in Fractal Links.

Course Materials | Software | Links



The URL of this page is: http://www.williams.edu/Mathematics/courses/Math300/software.html
last revised 11/19/98 send us feedback.