Fractal Cuisine

Mandelbrot's Sandwiches

Hilton Hotel, Paris, 09/05/1982 9:35pm

[reception phone rings]

“Good evening hotel reception, how can I help?”

“Yes good evening this is Mandelbrot, room 487, I would like a tray of sandwiches brought to my room immediately please.”

“No problem Mr Mandelbrot, any particular type?”

“No, type or flavour is not important, I do however wish them to be arranged a certain way, as follows… Begin with one sandwich in the centre of the tray, then on each side of that sandwich, I want further sandwiches added that are smaller than the original sandwich, repeat this process again when adding more sandwiches, and so on.”

“But Mr Mandelbrot I’m not sure how long that could take, it may even take forever and the sandwiches would just be really small after a while.”

“I don’t care how long it takes just do it. I want my fucking sandwiches.”

[call ends]

Benoit Mandelbrot sat in room 487 of the Hilton Hotel Paris until his death in October 2010.