1.E. Iterated Function Systems

General Setting

This convergence seen in the previous section occurs in a much more general setting than the gasket rules. Nevertheless, for concreteness we illustrate this converge using the gasket rules. Because all the transformations are applied at each iteration, this is called the determinisitc algorithm.
Specifically, suppose T1, ..., Tn are contractions, and P0 is any picture. For example,
T1(x,y) = (x/2, y/2),
T2(x,y) = (x/2, y/2) + (1/2, 0),
T3(x,y) = (x/2, y/2) + (0, 1/2),
and P0 =
Generate a sequence of pictures
P1 = T1(P0) ∪ ... ∪ Tn(P0)
P2 = T1(P1) ∪ ... ∪ Tn(P1)
...
Pk+1 = T1(Pk) ∪ ... ∪ Tn(Pk)
...
This sequence converges to a unique shape, P, the only (compact) shape invariant under the simultaneous application of T1, ..., Tn:
P = T1(P) ∪ ... ∪ Tn(P)   That is,  
Because of this convergence property, P is called the attractor of the IFS {T1, ... , Tn}.

Return to Iterated Function Systems.