ABSTRACT
An intuitive introduction is given in this chapter to a number of the main concepts that will be discussed in the following chapters of the book. In x1.2 we describe the difference between a fractal set and a multifractal measure. Fractal and multifractal methods have been used extensively in the description of dynamical systems which are introduced in x1.3. A distinguishing feature of processes that have multifractal characteristics is that various associated probability distributions display powerlaw properties. Other application areas where powerlaw scaling characteristics have been discussed extensively in the literature are in the fields of turbulence, rainfall, and earthquake modelling. These are discussed in x1.4, x1.5, and x1.6 respectively.
