MAXIMAL DIMENSIONS OF UNIFORM SIERPINSKI FRACTALS

BYUNGIK KAHNG AND JEREMY DAVIS

Abstract. We study the invariant fractals in convex N-gons given by N identical pure
contractions at its vertices with non-overlapping images, which we will call uniform Sierpin-
ski fractals. We provide the explicit formulae for the maximal contraction ratio R
N
, and
the maximal Hausdor dimension h
N
, for the uniform Sierpinski fractals. We use maximal
N-grams and principal crossing points as the main tool.
1. Introduction
It is well known that the iteration of similarity maps often produces an invariant fractal
with intricate self similarity structure that is aesthetically beautiful. See, for instance, [2, 3, 6]
for more about fractals and self similarities. One of the oldest and also the simplest classes
of such fractals is the class of Sierpinski fractals, which we dene as follows.
Denition 1.1 (Sierpinski Fractals). Let P
N
be a convex N-gon in the Euclidean plane R
2
,
with the vertices v
1
, , v
N
R
2
. That is,
P
N
=
_
N

i=1

i
v
i
: 0
i
1,
N

i=1

i
= 1
_
.
Let P(P
N
) be its power set. Furthermore, let
f : P(P
N
) P(P
N
)
be a set function in P
N
given by
(1.1) f(S) = f
1
(S) f
N
(S),
where each f
i
: P
N
P
N
is a pure contraction at v
i
with the contraction ratio r
i
. That
is, for each i 1, , N,
(1.2) f
i
(x) = r
i
(x v
i
) +v
i
, 0 < r
i
< 1.
Date: December 10, 2009.
2000 Mathematics Subject Classication. Primary: 51N05, 51N20, 28A80; Secondary: 51-01.
Key words and phrases. Sierpinski fractal, self similarity, Hausdor dimension, disturbed control dynam-
ical system, multiple valued iterative dynamics, maximal invariant set, global attractor.
1
2 BYUNGIK KAHNG AND JEREMY DAVIS
Suppose further that the contractions, f
1
, , f
N
, have non-overlapping images. That
is, each intersection, f
i
(P
N
) f
j
(P
N
), i ,= j, has empty interior. Then, the set
(1.3) o
(r
1
, ,r
N
)
(P
N
) =

k=0
f
k
(P
N
).
is called the Sierpinski fractal of P
N
with the contraction ratios r
1
, , r
N
. We say a
Sierpinski fractal is uniform if r
1
= = r
N
= r, and we abbreviate it as,
o
r
(P
N
) = o
(r, ,r)
(P
N
).
We say a uniform Sierpinski fractal o
r
(P
N
) is maximal if the the common contraction ratio
r is the largest for given P
N
. Finally, a Sierpinski fractal is called regular if P
N
is a regular
polygon.
Figure 1.1 illustrates the uniform regular Sierpinski fractal o
r
(P
N
) for selected N and
r values. Our aim is to determine the condition to achieve the largest r value for given
N, which gives rise to the largest possible regular Sierpinski fractal in terms of Hausdor
dimension The left hand side column of Figure 1.1 illustrates such maximal cases, where
adjacent images f
i
(P
N
) and f
i+1
(P
N
) apparently touch each other. In fact, we claim the
following.
Main Theorem (Theorem 3.2 and Corollary 3.3). Let o
r
(P
N
) be a uniform Sierpinski
fractal of a regular N-gon, P
N
with vertices v
1
, , v
N
R
2
. Then, the largest possible
contraction ratio (r value in Denition 1.1), which we denote as R
N
, turns out to be,
(1.4) R
N
=
1
2
_
1
tan
_

N
_
N1
4
__
tan
_

N
+

N
_
N1
4
__
_
,
where x| stands for the oor function. That is, x| is the largest integer that does not
exceed x. As a direct consequence, we conclude that the maximal Hausdor dimension h
N
is
attained when r = R
N
, and
(1.5) h
N
=
ln N
ln(1/R
N
)
=
ln N
ln R
N
.
The Main Theorem, which is a combination of Theorem 3.2 and Corollary 3.3, will be
proved in Section 3, along with the numerical illustrations. The interactive Mathematica
programs to plot the regular Sierpinski fractals and to test the results and tools of this paper
will be posted in the rst authors website [5].
2. Maximal N-grams and Principal Crossing Points
The main tool we use to prove the Main Theorem is the N-gram decomposition of P
N
. In
general, an N-gram of a regular polygon P
N
is a union of selected diagonal line segments of
P
N
. Figure 2.1 Figure 2.4 exemplify some N-grams of various regular polygons. Clearly,
MAXIMAL DIMENSIONS OF UNIFORM SIERPINSKI FRACTALS 3
N = 3, r = 1/2.
N = 7, r 0.30798.
N = 6, r = 0.32.
N = 11, r = 0.21.
Figure 1.1. Selected Examples of Uniform Regular Sierpinski Fractals.
Figure 2.1. G
5
. Figure 2.2. G
6
.
an N-gram exists only if N 5 and there are more than one N-grams, if N 7. Among
them, we are particularly interested in one specic N-gram for each N 5, which we dene
as follows.
4 BYUNGIK KAHNG AND JEREMY DAVIS
Figure 2.3. G
7
(thick). Figure 2.4. G
9
(thick).
Denition 2.1 (Maximal N-gram). Let P
N
be a regular N-gon with vertices
v
i
= c
0
+
_
cos
_
2i
N
_
, sin
_
2i
N
__
R
2
,
where c
0
R
2
, > 0, i = 1, , N, and nally, N 5. Suppose further that
(2.1) m =
_
N 1
4
_
+ 1.
Then, we call the union of the diagonal line segments G
N
given by
(2.2) G
N
=
Nm
_
i=1
v
i
v
i+m
,
where p q stands for the line segment from p R
2
to q R
2
, the maximal N-gram of P
N
.
The reason we chose the term maximal in Denition 2.1 is because of the maximal N-grams
are intimately related to the maximal regular Sierpinski fractals, or the regular Sierpinski
fractals given by the maximal contraction ratios. The following lemma justies our choice.
It will play an important role in the proof of the Main Theorem.
Lemma 2.2 (Principal Crossing Points). Let o
r
(P
N
) be a uniform Sierpinski fractal on a
regular N-gon, P
N
with vertices v
1
, , v
N
, N 5, introduced in Denition 2.1. Suppose
further that f
1
, , f
N
and f be as in Denition 1.1. Then, for each i 1, , N,
f
i
(v
im
) v
i
v
im
G
N
, (2.3)
f
i
(v
im
) v
i
v
im
G
N
, (2.4)
where and are the addition and the subtraction in 1, , N under the (mod N) iden-
tication, and m is the number dened by the equality (2.1) in Denition 2.1. Furthermore,
the uniform contraction ratio r attains the maximum value, which we denote as R
N
, if and
MAXIMAL DIMENSIONS OF UNIFORM SIERPINSKI FRACTALS 5
Figure 2.5. N = 5, 0 < r < R
N
. Figure 2.6. N = 5, r = R
5
.
Figure 2.7. N = 7, 0 < r < R
N
. Figure 2.8. N = 7, r = R
7
.
only if
(2.5) v
i
v
im
v
i1
v
i(m1)
= f
i
(v
im
),
for some i 1, , N. Let us call the crossing points between the line segments v
i
v
im
and v
i1
v
i(m1)
, i 1, , N, the principal crossing points of G
N
.
Figure 2.5 Figure 2.8 illustrate the rst conclusion of Lemma 2.2, the set inequalities
(2.3) and (2.4). Note that each vertex f
i
(v
im
) stays on the diagonal line segment v
i
v
im
of
the maximal N-gram G
N
, as r value increases from 0 to R
N
.
The second conclusion (the equivalence part), on the other hand, can be re-expressed
as follows. The uniform contraction ratio r reaches its maximum value if and only if each
f
i
(P
N
) touches the adjacent polygons, f
i1
(P
N
) and f
i1
(P
N
), at the principal crossing points.
Figure 2.6, Figure 2.8 and Figure 2.9 Figure 2.12 depict this claim. Figure 2.13 and Figure
2.14, on the other hand, illustrate what happens if we select wrong N-grams. Note that
the crossing points of the diagonal line segments do not match the touching points of the
6 BYUNGIK KAHNG AND JEREMY DAVIS
Figure 2.9. N = 8, r = R
8
. Figure 2.10. N = 9, r = R
9
.
Figure 2.11. N = 12, r = R
12
. Figure 2.12. N = 13, r = R
13
.
Figure 2.13. N = 9, r = R
9
. Figure 2.14. N = 9, r 0.2835.
adjacent polygons, and compare them with Figure 2.10, which depict the correct maximal
N-gram for the same N value.
Proof of Lemma 2.2. Because f
i
is a pure contraction at v
i
, it preserves the line that runs
through v
i
. Hence, the equalities (2.3) and (2.4) follow. Figure 2.5, Figure 2.6 and Figure
MAXIMAL DIMENSIONS OF UNIFORM SIERPINSKI FRACTALS 7
2.7, Figure 2.8 illustrate this idea. All we have to prove now is the equivalence between r
reaching its maximum and the equality (2.5) holding for some i 1, , N. Because of
the symmetry of P
N
and the uniformity of r, the equality (2.5) holds for every i 1, , N
if it holds for any one i. That is, r attains the maximum if and only if (2.5) holds for every
i 1, , N.
By symmetry, we conclude that the uniform contraction ratio r reaches its maximum when
and only when the farthest right hand side vertex of f
i
(P
N
) and the farthest left hand side
vertex of f
i1
(P
N
) coincide, as depicted in Figure 2.15 (the red point in the interior of P
N
).
Figure 2.16 is the expansion of the lower left hand side copy of the N-gon, f
i
(P
N
), of Figure
2.15. Note that the blue, red and green points of Figure 2.15 correspond to those of Figure
2.16. Let us abbreviate V
j
= f
i
(v
j
) for convenience. Then clearly, V
i
= v
i
, the blue point
in Figure 2.15 and Figure 2.16. Let be the distance between the adjacent vertices V
i
and
V
i1
, that is, =
1
(V
i
V
i
), where
1
() stands for the length.
Because P
N
is a regular N-gon, the size of each outer-angle of P
N
, that is, the angle
between the pair of vectors

v
i
v
i1
= v
i1
v
i
and

v
i1
v
i2
= v
i2
v
i1
, is 2/N. Note
that we used the notion

p q to denote q p R
2
for better understanding. Because f
i
is a pure contraction at v
i
= V
i
, the same property holds also for f
i
(P
N
). For instance,

(V
i2
V
i1
M) = 2/N in Figure 2.16, where

() means the radian measure of the

angle. Hence, we conclude that,

V
i
V
ij
=

V
i
V
i1
+

V
i1
V
i2
+ +

V
i(j1)
V
ij
= (cos 0, sin 0) +
_
cos
2
N
, sin
2
N
_
+ +
_
cos
2(j 1)
N
, sin
2(j 1)
N
_
,
and that the x-coordinate of

V
i
V
ij
keeps on increasing until it reaches its maximum when
j 1 is the largest integer such that cos(2(j 1)/N) > 0. The reason is because the
x-coordinate of

V
i
V
ij
is no longer bigger than that of

V
i
V
i(j1)
from that point on and
keeps decreasing, as depicted as the gray arrow in the upper right hand side of Figure 2.16.
Therefore, we conclude that such j is the largest integer such that
(2.6) 2(j 1)/N < /2, or 4(j 1) < N.
Because j is an integer, we can re-express the condition (2.6) equivalently as 4(j1) N1,
or j 1 + (N 1)/4. Since j is the biggest such integer, we conclude
j =
_
N 1)
4
_
+ 1 = m,
as dened by the equality (2.1) of Denition 2.1. Hence, the farthest right hand side vertex
of f
i
(P
N
) and the farthest left hand side vertex of f
i1
(P
N
) coincide if and only if
v
i
v
im
v
i1
v
i(m1)
= V
im
= f
i
(v
im
),
8 BYUNGIK KAHNG AND JEREMY DAVIS
v
i
v
i 1
Figure 2.15
V
i
V
i m
M
V
i 1
V
i 2
Figure 2.16
v
i
v
i 1
Figure 3.1
v
j
Figure 3.2
as claimed by the equality (2.5).
3. The Maximal Contraction Ratio
Let us make the following elementary observation before proving the Main Theorem.
Proposition 3.1. Let P
N
be a regular N-gon with vertices v
1
, , v
N
, as in Denition 2.1.
Then,

(v
i
v
j
v
i1
) = /N, for any i, j 1, , N and j ,= i, i 1.
Proof. Because P
N
is a regular polygon, it can be inscribed into a circle as illustrated in
Figure 3.1. Consequently,

(v
i
v
j
v
i
) is all identical for each j 1, , N such that
j ,= i, i 1. Let us denote the common quantity as . Then, from the symmetry, we must
have

(v
j1
v
j
v
j1
) = (N 2) , as illustrated in Figure 3.2. Because the external angle of
a regular N-gon is 2/N, we must have (N 2) + 2/N = , as depicted in Figure 3.2.
Consequently, we must have = /N as claimed.
We are now ready to prove the rst part of the Main Theorem, which we restate as follows.
MAXIMAL DIMENSIONS OF UNIFORM SIERPINSKI FRACTALS 9
Theorem 3.2 (Maximal Contraction Ratio). Let o
r
(P
N
) be a uniform Sierpinski fractal of
a regular N-gon, P
N
with vertices v
1
, , v
N
. Then, the largest possible contraction ratio,
which we denoted as R
N
in Lemma 2.2, turns out to be,
(3.1) R
N
=
1
2
_
1
tan
_

N
_
N1
4
__
tan
_

N
+

N
_
N1
4
__
_
.
Proof. First, we make some trivial observations to reduce the problem. From symmetry, it is
easy to see that the uniform contraction ratio r must be the biggest when the polygon P
N
is
regular. For the remainder of the proof, therefore, let us assume P
N
is a regular N-gon with
the vertices v
,
, v
N
introduced in Denition 2.1. Now, observe that the equality (3.1) is
correct when N = 3 or N = 4, in which case, we get R
3
= R
4
=
1
2
. Hence, we need only to
consider the case, N 5, in which case we can apply Lemma 2.2.
Lemma 2.2 tells us that we must concentrate our attention to the case where the adjacent
polygons f
i
(P
N
) and f
i1
(P
N
) share a common vertex at a principal crossing point of G
N
, as
depicted in the lower region of Figure 2.15. For convenience, let us expand the region as in
Figure 3.3. As in the proof of Lemma 2.2, let V
j
= f
i
(v
j
). Also, let f
i1
(v
j
) = U
j
, and let M
be the midpoint of v
i
and v
i1
, or equivalently, that of V
i
and U
i1
. All these are illustrated
in Figure 3.3. Note that V
im
is the principal crossing point between f
i
(P
N
) and f
i1
(P
N
),
as we proved in Lemma 2.2.
And then, let us name the common vertices v
i
and v
i1
of P
N
as A (blue) and E (green),
respectively. Also, we name the vertices f
i
(v
i1
) and f
i1
(v
i1
) as B and D, respectively,
and let C be the midpoint of the line segment AE. Finally, let us label the principal crossing
point f
i
(v
im
) as F (red) and the midpoint of AE as C.
Now, let s be the side-lengh of P
N
, that is, s =
1
(v
i
v
i1
) =
1
(V
i
U
i1
). Then clearly,
(3.2)
1
(V
i
M) =
1
(M U
i1
) =
s
2
.
Also, from Lemma 2.2, we must have
(3.3)
1
(V
i
V
i1
) =
1
(U
i
U
i1
) = s R
N
,
1
(V
i1
M) =
1
(U
i
D) =
s
2
s R
N
.
On the other hand, using Proposition 3.1, we can express the size of the angle U
i1
V
i
V
im
as

(U
i1
V
i
V
im
) =

(V
i1
V
i
V
im
) (3.4)
=

(V
i1
V
i
V
i2
) + +

(V
i(m1)
V
i
V
im
)
=

N
+ +

N
=

N
(m1) =

N
_
N 1
4
_
.
Note that
The equality (3.4) tells us the size of internal angle V
i1
V
i
V
im
of the triangle V
i1
V
i
V
im
is

N
_
N1
4
_
. Also, Proposition 3.1 tells us that the size of the angle V
i
V
im
V
i1
is

N
. Hence,
10 BYUNGIK KAHNG AND JEREMY DAVIS
U
i 1
V
i
V
i m
M
V
i 1
U
i
Figure 3.3
we conclude that

(V
im
V
i1
M) =

(V
i
V
i1
V
im
) (3.5)
=

(V
i
V
im
V
i1
) +

(V
i1
V
i
V
im
)
=

N
+

N
_
N 1
4
_
.
Finally, we put everything together. From (3.2) and (3.4), we get
(3.6)
1
(V
im
M) =
1
(V
i
M) tan (

(V
i1
V
i
V
im
)) =
s
2
tan
_

N
_
N 1
4
__
.
Also, from (3.3) and (3.5), we get

1
(V
im
M) =
1
(V
i1
M) tan (

(V
im
V
i1
M)) (3.7)
=
_
s
2
s R
N
_
tan
_

N
+

N
_
N 1
4
__
.
From (3.6) and (3.7), we get the equation,
(3.8)
s
2
tan
_

N
_
N 1
4
__
=
_
s
2
s R
N
_
tan
_

N
+

N
_
N 1
4
__
,
where the positive constant s cancels itself out. Solving for R
N
through elementary algebra,
we get the equality (3.1). This completes the proof of Theorem 3.2, which is the rst part
of the Main Theorem.
MAXIMAL DIMENSIONS OF UNIFORM SIERPINSKI FRACTALS 11
The second part of the Main Theorem follows immediately from Hutchinsons Theorem
[4], which can be found in most standard textbooks on fractals, say [2, 3, 6].
Corollary 3.3. Let o
r
(P
N
) be a uniform Sierpinski fractal of a regular N-gon, P
N
with
vertices v
1
, , v
N
. Then, the maximal Hausdor dimension h
N
of o
r
(P
N
) is attained when
r = R
N
, given by the equality (3.1) of Theorem 3.2, and
(3.9) h
N
=
ln N
ln(1/R
N
)
=
ln N
ln R
N
.
Proof. From Hutchinsons Theorem on self similar fractals [4],
N

i=1
r
h
i
= 1,
where r
i
is the contraction ratio of f
i
. Because r
1
= = r
N
= r, we must have
Nr
h
= 1, r
h
=
1
N
, h = log
r
(1/N) =
ln N
ln r
.
The maximum of h is attained, therefore, when r reaches the maximum, R
N
. Therefore,
h
N
=
ln N
ln R
N
.

4. Discussion
In this paper, we set up our problem and the main result using convex polygons, primarily
for convenience. However, the equality (1.4) of the Main Theorem applies in more general
circumstances as well. As we see from Figure 4.1 Figure 4.4, the Main Theorem applies
to a class of the self similar fractals given by N-grams, which we will call the regular N-
gram fractals. It is but a trivial exercise to set up the precise denition of the regular
N-gram fractals and the appropriate generalization of the Main Theorem, so we leave it to
the interested readers. It is not surprising at all that such generalization is possible. The
uniform contraction ratio r reaches the maximum when the outer vertices of the N-grams
touch each other (Figure 4.2), but the outer vertices of the N gram coincide with the vertices
of P
N
(Figure 4.1), and thus the equality (1.4) applies. Indeed, as more iterations are taken,
the regular N-gram fractals gets more similar to the regular Sierpinski fractals, as illustrated
in Figure 4.3 and Figure 4.4. Again, we leave the detail to the readers.
If we consider the inner vertices as well, however, the regular N-gram fractal problem
becomes even more interesting. As depicted in Figure 4.5 Figure 4.7, we need to consider
the contractions at the inner vertices as well, with dierent uniform contraction ratios. For
Figure 4.5 Figure 4.7, the contraction ratios r
o
= R
7
0.308 and r
i
= 0.136 were selected,
for the contractions at the outer and the inner vertices, respectively. At this moment, we are
not sure what to expect in this case. In any case, it appears that the maximal contraction
12 BYUNGIK KAHNG AND JEREMY DAVIS
Figure 4.1. N = 7, r = R
N
0.30798. Figure 4.2. N = 7, rst iteration.
Figure 4.3. N = 7, third iteration. Figure 4.4. N = 7, fourth iteration.
Figure 4.5. r
o
0.308, r
i
= 0.136. Figure 4.6. N = 7, rst iteration.
ratio formula (1.4) plays some role, but perhaps not in general. For the time being, therefore,
we leave this problem open for future research.
MAXIMAL DIMENSIONS OF UNIFORM SIERPINSKI FRACTALS 13
Figure 4.7. N = 7, second iteration. Figure 4.8. N = 7, third iteration.
Acknowledgments. This paper is partly based upon the undergraduate research project [1]
of the second author, supervised by the rst author. It was supported in part by Morris Aca-
demic Partnership of University of Minnesota at Morris, and also in part my Mathematical
Association of America. The authors thank Mark Logan, who helped the authors as the sec-
ond reader of this undergraduate research project. They also thank the anonymous referees
of the journal, Fractals, for valuable criticisms and suggestions for the revision of this paper.
References
[1] J. Davis, Sierpinskii Fractals and their dimensionality, B.A. Thesis, University of Minnesota at Morris,
2009.
[2] G. Edgar, Measure, Topology, and Fractal Geometry, Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics, Springer,
2007.
[3] K. Falconer, Fractal Geometry: Mathematical Foundations and Application, Wiley, 2nd ed., 2003.
[4] J. Hutchinson, Fractals and self-similarity, Indiana J. Math., 30 (1981), pp. 713747.
[5] B. Kahng, Sierpinski fractal plotter, http://cda.morris.umn.edu/kahng/Sierpinski.html, (2009).
[6] C. A. Rogers, Hausdor Measures, Cambridge Mathematical Library, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2nd ed.,
1998.
Byungik Kahng, 600 East 4th Street, Division of Science and Mathematics, University
of Minnesota, Morris, MN 56267, USA
E-mail address: kahng@umn.edu
Jeremy Davis, 600 East 4th Street, UMM Mail 220, University of Minnesota, Morris, MN
56267, USA
E-mail address: davi1542@umn.edu