5. Random Fractals and the Stock Market

5.A. Self-Similar Distributions

Unlike the gasket, these shapes are not made of exact reduced copies of themselves.
However, there are ways in which the part is similar to the whole.
For example, we might look at the distribution of the number and size of holes.
On the left we see the holes cut out in forming the fractal on the left above. There are
1 hole (red) of side length 1/2,
3 holes (green) of side length 1/4,
9 holes (dark blue) of side length 1/8,
27 holes (light blue) of side length 1/16,
and so on.
Expecting a power law fit, on the right below we plot the Log of the number of holes of side length L against Log(1/L).
The red dots are the plot for the entire shape, the blue dots are the plot for the lower left corner.
(The other two occupied corners have the same distribution.)
Even though the parts are not scaled copies of the whole, distributions associated with the parts are scaled copies of distributions associated with the whole.

Return to Self-Similar Distributions.