Geometrical objects typified by some form of self-similarity. In other words, when magnified to an appropriate scale, parts of a fractal appear similar to the whole. Examples of approximate fractals are coastlines of islands, continents and terrain features. In non-linear dynamical systems that exhibit deterministic chaos, the so-called strange attractors are typically fractals.
See Attractor, Brain damage studies, Chaos, Chaos theory, Determinism, Non-linear dynamical systems, Pattern formation