The Mandelbrot set can be explained with the equation "z" = "z" + "c". In that equation, "c" and "z" are complex numbers and "n" is zero or a positive integer (natural number). Starting with "z"=0, c is in the Mandelbrot set if the absolute value of "z" never becomes larger than a certain number (that number depends on c), no matter how large "n" gets. 