Niels Fabian Helge von Koch: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	Helge von Koch
Born	January 25, 1870 • Stockholm • Sweden
Died	March 11, 1924 (aged 54) • Stockholm • Sweden
Subjects Of Study	Riemann zeta function • Von Koch’s snowflake curve • determinant • matrix

Photos

$Koch snowflakeSwedish mathematician Niels von Koch published the fractal that bears his name in 1906. It begins with an equilateral triangle; three new equilateral triangles are constructed on each of its sides using the middle thirds as the bases, which are then removed to form a six-pointed star. This is continued in an infinite iterative process, so that the resulting curve has infinite length. The Koch snowflake is noteworthy in that it is continuous but nowhere differentiable; that is, at no point on the curve does there exist a tangent line.$