Narrow Results

We prove that the modified von Koch snowflake curve, which we get as a limit by starting from an equilateral triangle (or from a segment) and repeatedly replacing the middle portion c of each interval by the other two sides of an equilateral triangle (and the corresponding von Koch snowflake domain), is non-self-intersecting if and only if c < ½. This answers a question of M. van den Berg.

We revisit the relation between the von Koch curve and the Thue-Morse sequence given in a recent paper of Ma and Goldener by relating their study to papers written by Coquet and Dekking at the beginning of the 1980s. We also emphasize that more general links between fractal objects and automatic sequences can be found in the literature.

This manuscript describes three activities connecting the Tower of Hanoi puzzle to three familiar fractal forms. The first connects coin flipping, paper folding, and the Tower of Hanoi to the Dragon Curve. The second illustrates mathematician Ian Stewart's method for showing how the relationships between possible states of the Tower of Hanoi are related to stages in Sierpinski's Gasket. The final activity compares right-left moves of Tower of Hanoi disks to iterations of the Von Koch Curve.