07 - Mandelbrot Set by Jonathan Coulton

[sheik530]

I made the sierpinski gasket on paint!

[MattTreck]

One badass fucking fractal!

[Penumbra42]

37 people hate the Peano space and the Koch curve.

[rpresser]

Rest in peace, Dr. Mandelbrot.

[TheGuyWithTheSpoon]

Jonathan Coulton is the Jesus of Music!

[zevex747]

I wonder if Mandelbrot ever heard this while he was still alive... RIP 2011-10-14

[Tatarize]

@zevex747 He did. And gave his opinion of it according to a Big Think Interview with Jon Coulton. I think Big Think asked Mandelbrot about it.

[Multipassdiscounts]

@Tatarize I looked up the interview and found the quote, "Well, I happen to know this song, it was sent to me and I was very impressed by it and by its popularity."

[93tomb]

@Multipassdiscounts That answers the question that's always bugged me about this song. Thanks.

[lowonthefoodchain]

I sang this for my math class. I'm pretty sure only my teacher got it xD

[stereodreamer23]

Brilliant...

[chick3n999]

The bridge he uses in this song that says "If the series of c's always stay, close to Z and never trend away" is the same bridge he uses in Code monkey right before he goes in the chorus. Those 2 songs are the only 2 songs that have that bridge and I think it just sounds awesome xD. Also they're both great songs as always go thats the end of my blabber.

[mburke875]

@chick3n999 its ridiculous that he managed to make so many songs in such a short time. the guys clearly a freaky genius

[ajaxtaur]

Learn to subscript.

[TheBigFuckingGun32]

An excellent song, about and by men who are both geniuses in their respective fields. But one must wonder; did Beniot Mandlebrot ever listen to it? Rest in peace you badass fucking fractal.

[bbctol]

@TheBigFuckingGun32 yeah, he had. said he liked it in some interview

[vadimtheconqueror]

crystalline*

[vadimtheconqueror]

Badass fucking fractal=Crystaline Entity

[McLeod54]

Fucking fractals...

[R3vEN108]

Does any1 else think this sounds like cherub rock?

[blahdob]

Mandelbrot's in heaven....

AT LEAST HE WILL BE WHEN HE'S... Shit seriously?

[redconversetheorem]

@blahdob

He has since died.

[nrevelations777]

RIP Mandlebrot, who is in heaven now that he is dead.

[CuntryDriver]

YAY! - I learned!

[mercury199runner]

Rip Mandelbrot

[zengrz]

RIP Mandelbrot

[gwarriorfromhell]

i dont think i could have heard a more awesome song about math. jc is pure genius, as is mandelbrot. may he rest in peace

[FathomLordKarathr]

Benoît Mandelbrot is dead update

[karmisson]

cool song and vid-thanks

[Rishi123456789]

Mandelbrot is now thriving in the Mandelbrot Set Heaven. I LOVE YOU, MANDELBROT!!!!!!!!! ^_____^

[omastar444]

RIP Mandelbrot. Good night sweet prince.

[ydna008]

RIP Mandelbrot :'(

[jansuch]

Somebody please edit out the Jesus pic at 1:23 lol

[HerrDesMondes]

@jansuch

Yeah that hippie doesn't have much to do with the song at all XD

[MrSteRoberts]

Haaaaaaaaaaa superb, well done :)

[polyhydrant]

lame vid, mandelbrot was a genius

[Bloodmuffin6]

RIP mandelbrot :(

[GARforGanman]

Goodnight, sweet prince. And flights of badass fucking fractals sing thee to thy rest.

Benoit Mandelbrot: November 20, 1924 – October 14, 2010

[Lagolop]

He passed away last Thursday :(

I'm sure he is in fractal heaven.... RIP Dr Mandelbrot.

[shadowstark]

Mandelbrot's in heaven, and it's all because he's dead. Right now he's not alive or teaching math at Yale....

[BikiniBlackSpecial2]

RIP Meniot Mandlebrot!

[LovelyYTRocks]

Deeeeeeeeead.

[Gwarkyman]

this song is awesome just awesome

[shoesmusic]

I LOVE THIS! I think I peed my pants twice.

[blahdob]

Worst. Video. Ever.

[typacsk]

"In an ocean of ashes, islands of order, patterns making themselves out of nothing."

--Arcadia

[Pooklogic]

z₁

[redconversetheorem]

I didn't know this was a Jonathan Coulton song T_T

Just makes me that much more excited for what he will bring to Portal 2 in 2011. :')

[SephurMcGoul]

I read that he retired from teaching at Yale a few years ago. :( Now he's Still alive and being retired. :)

[Mauser712]

My Mandelbrot Set is missing a few pieces.

[Soren015]

Doing Biochemistry-papers at 4 in the morning, it can be hard to see the awesome side of science. This song got me pretty pumped, though.

[Lambyte]

fractals make me feel uncomfortable :(

[amkerslake]

The math teacher in me loves this.

[Kuroszki96]

hey, where'd you get the oh shit bus picture?? i want to make it my desktop

[DX4LIFFE]

Anyone think the main riff in this song sounds like Cherub Rock by Smashing Pumpkins?

[ShiningLily3]

@DX4LIFFE There are some similarities to it.

[UnfinishedRiot]

@DX4LIFFE I agree strongly!

[masterogrp]

One bad ass fucking fractal.

[darpleFrok]

this picture slideshow is fail up the ass but the song kicks my ass :)

[sx07]

Just sayin' but...

1) It would be written as 2Z, rather than Z2.

2)1Z is the same as Z. Therefore, Z=Z (squared) +C. In the same spirit, 2Z=2Z( squared) +C. Therefore.... this math is screwed.

3) The song wins. The video... eh, not so much. Shoot again.

[OniLink10]

You sir, are a moron. The number after the Z just means which Z we have calculated, not multiply by that number.

Besides, Jonathon has admitted he described a Julia Set instead of a Mandelbrot set anyways. C is the point, Z starts at Zero in a Mandelbrot set.

[lithiumdeuteride]

@sx07

Someone needs to learn about subscripts and iterative formulas.

[Bladesmaname]

mandelbrots in heaven. at least he will be when hes dead, right now hes still alive.... haha roflmfao

[Kanakotka]

Song wins, "video" slideshow fails.

[PinguimMarco]

You can change the world in a tiny way. =)

[2007excalibur2007]

This song wins.

[scumgrizzly]

well that was... chaotic.

har, har, har.  I just had to, sorry.

[spipper]

This. Is. AMAZING!!!!!

[CharlieSalter1138]

Steadicam Bafta.

[MoarOfTehRawkege]

:13.

Funniest picture ever.

[MoarOfTehRawkege]

2 people gave me a thumbs down for my comment. I guess that's cool.

Kinda sad how people actually care about the slideshow's quality, though, lulz.

[darthjedidude]

I hope this video is made with the pictures MEANT to not be related to the song... shit, but the song's badass.

[loyolaboy05]

Just read the book "Chaos" which talks about all that stuff in a chapter, so I was really happy to finally understand this song

[paimail21]

Chaos Theory, Order out of chaos

[TorvaultDeezil]

Hey cool I can make a music video *makes awful slideshow of pictures that are slightly related to the literal words of the song* i hate you forever

[doomah1236]

wow u could just enjoy the song instead of being

a douche about it

[TorvaultDeezil]

I do enjoy the song you clown. The video is just really terrible and I felt like leaving some group of words explaining how I feel. That's what comments are for

[sabrejack2]

@TorvaultDeezil literal slideshow is the worst kind of music video.

[aty57]

@sabrejack2 Why?

[sabrejack2]

@aty57 the short answer is, a work is more than the sum of its parts.

The long answer, it actually subtracts from the experience of the song.  Take the line "Rorschach test on fire" where this video shows us a Rorschach test, then a fire. This actually disrupts me from forming my own mental image of what a Rorschach test might look like if it was alive on the page with fiery animation, like an abstract biker tattoo.

This video adds no interpretation whatsoever.

[aty57]

@sabrejack2 Ok. I understand now that I look at it again. Thanks for the answer.

[perlpower]

The bus pictured at @2:44 is from my city (Calgary), that was a huge flood from a couple of years ago

[MH5]

It may be earth-shattering math, but its still just numbers and complexities.

[msolec2000]

Is it me or is the definition of the set a bit mangled up?

[capncurry]

It's a bit mangled up. It would be correct if the lyrics were "Take a point called C in the complex plane, let Z1 be C Squared plus C. Z2 is Z1 squared plus C. Z3 is Z2 squared plus C, and so on..."

[msolec2000]

Or alternatively: "Let Z1 be Z squared plus Z, Z2 is Z1 squared plus Z, Z3 is Z2 squared plus Zm and so on."

[maryswilde]

Cool!

[RazaxTheScalpel]

xodarap42, it's James Gleick, not George. From what I understand, it's an excellent book. I still need to read it myself.

[quaidanator]

wat is the equation about

[DieHardXG2]

Fractals.

[SomethingBeaming]

Well technicall your statement could be a incredibly small number (-33609 to be exact). If you wanted that to be exactly 5 then you should have said abs(√(7^10))-16802. without the absolute value sign you would have plus of minus √(7^10). which gives you two answers. 5 or -33609. Sorry.

[MarielDragon]

not necessary, square roots from constants are often considered to only have a positive solution. If this were an equation, you would be inarguably right

[QuantumDeviant]

wait, how did you guys interpolate that? you guys must be geniuses.........

[QuantumDeviant]

My god, you're like a fuckin' rainman over here, dude........hahahhaha

[MarielDragon]

you mean high √(7^10)-16802, right?

or do you mean five five? :-)

[EvilKronos]

1:34-1:55

[3voLu7ion]

This song makes me want to high five math.

[jjjfisher123]

Jonathan Coulton is a genius. A mad genius, but a genius nonetheless.

[sulsaboy]

i love this song

[NotAPalmtree]

Just how many songs can you hear "one bad-ass fucking fractal"? Not many, my friends. JoCo is awsome.

[MrReviewerGuy]

@NotAPalmtree HERE HERE!

[jlong666]

@NotAPalmtree I think this is the ONLY song with "one bad-ass fucking fractal" o_O

[AidanGS]

"You're one bad-ass fucking fractal."

Best line ever.

[gpriante]

Is that shot @ 0:21 taken at ICTP?

[montagfire]

what are the lyrics?

[brudswick]

what is the mandlebrot set explaining?

[xodarap42]

Short answer? Among many things, that Infinite dimensions can and DO exist within a "finite" space. The Mandlebrot set is a Fractal, so is a snowflake, a coastline, a crystal, a star, hell our entire universe is probably fractal. He also showed that chaos is a farce as all chaotic systems are based in and return to order. The best book I can recomend for study is: Chaos the making of a new Science by George Gleick and it's well worth the study you put into it.

[IEATn00bZORZ]

I can't get the appeal of this sort of music "video." It's just images of all the nouns taken literally, with no context at all; Coulton said each monster is a splinter in his eye, not a splinter in his thumb a few seconds before an uninjured eye. Fuck, get an imagination.

[TGSean]

In the words of the late, honorable Mitch Hedberg;

"It's just so LITERAL!"

[NullShade]

Personally, I find it kind of amusing.

[hailmetal16]

I honestly think that such a brilliant and outstandingly astonishing subject/matter has been bastardized by such a simple minded and horrible song.

I can't believe how much of a let down this song was.

I was so excited when I found the lyrics for it, and I though to myself;

"Wow, someone's written a song about the MBS! Brilliant!"

This Pop-esque tune does the subject on which is was built upon, absolutely NO JUSTICE whatsoever.

I'm not angry, I promise.

[IEATn00bZORZ]

okay

[Kwyjibo28372]

@hailmetal16 What where you expecting from Jonathan "Still Alive" Coulton? Thrash metal?

[hailmetal16]

@Kwyjibo28372

Sir, hell no.

Thrash metal would be an even worse genre for this song.

I mean, ok, i'll give him the lyrics, they were well written.

But the song is just too simple!

It just frustrates me because the subject matter's potential isn't being met with such a sound!

[mjaf1]

@hailmetal16 if you don't like don't comment and fuck off

[hailmetal16]

@mjaf1

Can we meet up so I can stick my finger in your bum?

[mecampbellesq]

@IEATn00bZORZ

Says the guy who's screenname is antiquated 1337-speak.

[IEATn00bZORZ]

@mecampbellesq what are u saying? lol?

[IEATn00bZORZ]

@IEATn00bZORZ i re-iterate my thoughts posted here one year ago

[Garedfosho]

@IEATn00bZORZ We will. When you, my angered friend, get a life.

[IEATn00bZORZ]

@Garedfosho what are u trying to say

[Garedfosho]

@IEATn00bZORZ That if ur gunna comment on a vid. Atleast have CONSTRUCTIVE criticism instead of the rude ass moronic babble u posted.

[IEATn00bZORZ]

@Garedfosho lol wut i'm 100% constructive, ur just tearing down while i try to build something great

[Garedfosho]

@IEATn00bZORZ Then why put someone else down trying to build it? This person could've made a better video yes. But who are you to just insult the person instead of telling him what he could do to make it better? Thats Constructive. What you did was just insulting.

[Golfhaus]

@IEATn00bZORZ So what should they have done instead, just posted it in front of a single picture of Coulton, or with the lyrics? Yeah, THAT would have been imaginative. If you don't like it, do it better, or STFUN00B.

[EmmeJayKay]

The moon is 238,856 miles away.

[puertorrriquena]

lmao 2:44. Jonathan Coulton is a talented musician.

Special thanks to Spiffword. If his vid on Creepy Doll by JC didn't come up in a random video feed, I may not know about his cool songs. ^_^

[pegasusgiraffe]

What a fantastic song - Jonathon Coulter is such a great success story.

[Arctophile2000]

FANTASTIC song. the vid is nothing special. there is more to quality music videos than google images!

[doctorw0rm]

One bad ass effing fractal?? What a line!

Excellent song.

[ch33zer]

I would have failed advanced mathematical theory without this song. not even kidding.

[TriKri]

Okay ^^ Tell me how

[podcastbard]

great video. each picture stayed in cue with the song.

[JackDigital]

I really like Youtube videos made entirely of Google Images! Good job!

[DanteofAvalon]

you did your best, and the song didnt give much to work with, but for what it is, good job

[sirana]

thank you for your civilized and constructive criticism.

[guiTboneslimjim]

Thanx for the vid so I could favorite the song. the vids hilarious anyway.

[ja118]

lol australia

[davidjeffreymarcus]

The description of the Mandelbrot set isn't quite right. z should be zero, and it is c that is in the Mandelbrot set, not z.

[demetrius3d]

That's right! ...and, Kenesaw Mountain Landis was *not* 17 feet tall. ...and, Soterios Johnson really *isn't* that great a dancer. You SUCK, Coulton! How can I ever trust anything you say?!!

[SamECircle]

actually, in his live performances, he says "oh, by the way, if any of you are mathamaticions, and you are going to come up to me after the show and tell me that i actually described the julias set, i already know that, so you dont have to tell me

[Austln]

actually he says "I already know that shit" :P

[birkett83]

Ok, writing z1, z2, z3 like that made me wince... anyone ever heard of a subscript?

[sirana]

yeah, i know it sucks, but the software i was using (proshow gold) doesn't do subscripts....

[birkett83]

Unlucky ;-)

[schwagcast]

JC even makes math kick ass

[s27argentum]

¡Fantastic! ¡Gorgeus! ¡Hilarius!

I really love the videoclip. Congratulations.

Note: I love Wikipedia too, because my Math's teacher don't want to explain me some things of the song.

[sirana]

he probably doesn't know ;-)

[s27argentum]

Yes, I think so. It's curious, because this year I've had two! Math teachers, both in the same line. And tomorrow I'm doing an exam. Nervous nervous.

[sirana]

I wish you best of luck. Perhaps there will be something about fractals and you ace it ;-)

[xodarap42]

It may also be because Non linear dynamics or "Chaos Theory" is not an accredited science, meaning you can't get a degree in it. Some mathematicians even try to pretend it doesn't exist. Let's just say they hate being proved wrong.  I mean, they DID take a simple yet elegant method of proving the order in even the most complex natural systems and named it "Chaos Theory!" Mathematician = Smart ass.

[worldofoddy]

Yay! One of my photos is in this - the picture of the little girl crying.

[sirana]

hehe, thanks for making your kid cry, so I had a cool picture to use ;-) creative commons rules...

[Ronaldsan]

As a maths student going onto his third year - I love this song... Go JoCoPo!