Associate Professor of Mathematics Shepley “Chip” Ross has a 20-year-old coloring project stashed near the door to his second-floor Hathorn Hall office. He says he won’t toss it. “This was a labor of ...

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Nature is alive with a special type of pattern called fractals. From the smallest ice crystal to the vastness of the galaxy, fractals are the building blocks of the natural world.

As a mathematical concept, the fractal can be intimidating. Benoit Mandelbrot, the Polish-born mathematician who coined the term, defined a fractal as “a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can ...