mathematics

Udo of Aachen

Udo of Aachen is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Udo of Aachen rather than just read about it. In short: Udo of Aachen (c.1200–1270) is a fictional monk, a creation of British technical writer Ray Girvan, who introduced him in an April Fool's hoax article in 1999. According to the article, Udo was an illustrator and theologian who discovered the Mandelbrot set some 700 years before Benoit Mandelbrot.

Key takeaways

Udo of Aachen belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Udo of Aachen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Udo of Aachen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Udo of Aachen (c.1200–1270) is a fictional monk, a creation of British technical writer Ray Girvan, who introduced him in an April Fool's hoax article in 1999. According to the article, Udo was an illustrator and theologian who discovered the Mandelbrot set some 700 years before Benoit Mandelbrot. Udo's works were allegedly discovered by the also-fictional Bob Schipke, a Harvard mathematician, who supposedly saw a picture of the Mandelbrot set in an illumination for a 13th-century carol. Girvan also attributed Udo as a mystic and poet whose poetry was set to music by Carl Orff with the haunting O Fortuna in Carmina Burana. Later Schipke uncovered Udo's work which described how Udo had come to this kind of design while working on a method of determining whether one's soul would reach heaven.

Aspects of the hoax The poetry of O Fortuna was actually the work of itinerant goliards, found in the German Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern Abbey. The hoax was lent an air of credibility because often medieval monks did discover scientific and mathematical theories, only to have them hidden or shelved due to persecution or simply ignored because publication prior to the invention of the printing press was difficult at best. Mr. Girvan adds to this suggestion by associating Udo with several other more legitimate discoveries where an author was considered ahead of his time in terms of a scientific theory of some sort that is now established as a mainstream theory but was considered fringe science at the time. Another aspect of the deception was that it was very common for pre-20th century mathematicians to spend incredible amounts of time on hand calculations such as a logarithm table or trigonometric functions. Calculating all of the points for a Mandelbrot set is a comparable activity that would seem tedious today but would be routine for people of the time.

References Ray Girvan (1999-04-01). "The Mandelbrot Monk". Archived from the original on 2002-10-27. John Allen Paulos (1999-04-01). "Monk's "Startling" Math Discovery". Who's Counting, ABC News.

External links Garry J. Tee (August 2001). "Mandelbrot Monk". Newsletter of the New Zealand Mathematical Society, number 82. Archived from the original on 2008-04-14. Retrieved 2005-12-13. Jeff "Hemos" Bates (2001-03-22). "Mandelbrot Set Originally Found In 13th Century (Early April's Fool)". Slashdot. John Armstrong (March 2008). "Hoax!". The Unapologetic Mathematician. Archived from the original on 2008-04-02.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Udo of Aachen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Udo of Aachen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Udo of Aachen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Udo of Aachen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Udo of Aachen

In research: Udo of Aachen appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Udo of Aachen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Udo of Aachen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1999 hoaxes, April Fools' Day jokes, Fictional Christian monks, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Udo of Aachen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Udo of Aachen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Udo of Aachen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Udo of Aachen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Udo of Aachen in simple terms?

Why does Udo of Aachen matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Udo of Aachen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Udo of Aachen.