In the class of self-affine sets on ℝⁿ we study a subclass for which the geometry is rather tractable. A type is a standardized position of two intersecting pieces. For a self-affine tiling, this can be identified with an edge or vertex type. We assume that the number of types is finite. We study the topology of such fractals and their boundary sets, and we show how new finite type fractals can be constructed. For finite type self-affine tiles in the plane we give an algorithm which decides whether...

The topology and combinatorial structure of the Mandelbrot set ${ℳ}^d$ (of degree d ≥ 2) can be studied using symbolic dynamics. Each parameter is mapped to a kneading sequence, or equivalently, an internal address; but not every such sequence is realized by a parameter in ${ℳ}^d$. Thus the abstract Mandelbrot set is a subspace of a larger, partially ordered symbol space, ${\Lambda }^d$. In this paper we find an algorithm to construct “visible trees” from symbolic sequences which works whether or not the sequence is realized....