We Can Circ It Out

It’s a pretty little problem to convert this triangular fractal…

Sierpiński triangle (Wikipedia)


…into its circular equivalent:

Sierpiński triangle as circle


Sierpiński triangle to circle (animated)


But once you’ve circ’d it out, as it were, you can easily adapt the technique to fractals based on other polygons:

T-square fractal (Wikipedia)

T-square fractal as circle


T-square fractal to circle (animated)


Elsewhere other-accessible…

Dilating the Delta — more on converting polygonic fractals to circles…

Six Mix Trix

Here’s an equilateral triangle divided into six smaller triangles:

Equilateral triangle divided into six irregular triangles (Stage #1)


Now keep on dividing:

Stage #2


Stage #3


Stage #4


Stage #5


Equilateral triangle dividing into six irregular triangles (animated)


But what happens if you divide the triangle, then discard some of the sub-triangles, then repeat? You get a self-similar shape called a fractal:

Divide-and-discard stage #1


Stage #2


Stage #3


Stage #4


Stage #5


Stage #6


Triangle fractal (animated)


Here’s another example:

Divide-and-discard stage #1


Stage #2


Stage #3


Stage #4


Stage #5


Stage #6


Stage #7


Triangle fractal (animated)


You can also delay the divide-and-discard to create a more symmetrical fractal, like this:

Delayed divide-and-discard stage #1


Stage #2


Stage #3


Stage #4


Stage #5


Stage #6


Stage #7


Triangle fractal (animated)


What next? You can use trigonometry to turn the cramped triangle into a circle:

Triangular fractal

Circular fractal
(Open in new window for full image)


Triangle-to-circle (animated)


Here’s another example:

Triangular fractal

Circular fractal


Triangle-to-circle (animated)


And below are some more circular fractals converted from triangular fractals. Some of them look like distorted skulls or transdimensional Lovecraftian monsters:

(Open in new window for full image)


















Previous Pre-Posted

Circus Trix — an earlier look at sextally-divided-equilateral-triangle fractals