Learning Your Way Around

Periodicity

In the Mandelbrot Set above, we have labeled some of the Periodicities of the major bulbs. Click on the bulb at the top, labelled '3' to explore its structure. Note that all of the branches coming out of this bulb have a three-arm structure.

Zoom back out and then zoom into the bulb to the left of the Period 3 bulb and explore the one labelled '5'. This is the Period 5 bulb, and all its branches have a 5 arm structure.

Continue exploring the bulbs down into the Seahorse Valley (counterclockwise) and you will find the Period 7, Period 9 and Period 11 bulbs labeled. This progression continues down the valley, where the Period number, or Periodicity, increases by two for every bulb in the progression.