There are a couple of firsts represented in these pictures: it was my introduction to taking pictures, hence my first fractals-in-nature images, using an old digital borrowed from the office, spurred by wanting to set the tetrahedrons against these roses, so beautiful I was mesmerized by them; it was also a rather hairy first-paint-mixing experience. The roses were aged and a myriad colors which could only be seen up-close in the petals, the paint was aimed at representing an average of those colors. The images are something like 1 MP in resolution. The building seen in the background in later rows is the University Club. A lot of work has been done in this area of ASU's campus since these pictures were taken. Anna was an invited speaker and lead teacher from Bremen at the 2000 Florida Summer Institute that I attended. She truly inspired me, and still does. We got to know each other and a friendship began that has lasted these several years. This page is for Anna, a celebration of math, friendships, and new paths.

I included the above-center image in an article called Experiencing Mathematics that was published in Symmetry: Culture and Science, Volume 13, Numbers 3-4, 225-448, 2002. POLYHEDRA 2, Part 2. The tree is an olive tree. The bark of the tree is fractal, the cracks in the dirt are fractal, showing some nice fractal structure in the picture in addition to the presence of the tetrahedrons. The Sierpinski tetrahedra actually need more iterations before they can be considered "fractal", one or two more iterations would be enough to see similar substructure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Anyone wanting to use these photos for anything other than personal use for study or enjoyment must get permission from either Gayla Chandler or Anna Rodenhausen (see link above).