Mandelbrot set ($\mathcal{M}$)

For $f_c(z)=z^2+c$, the Mandelbrot set is $\mathcal{M}=\{c:\{f_c^n(0){\}}_{n\ge 0}\text{ is bounded}\}$. Thus it records the nonescaping finite critical orbit. The connected Julia set criterion for a polynomial says that the corresponding filled Julia set is connected exactly for these quadratic parameters. Parameters with an attracting fixed point form the main cardioid: its multiplier $\lambda$ gives the fixed point $\lambda /2$ and parameter $c=\lambda /2-{\lambda }^2/4$, with $|\lambda |<1$. Its boundary has a cusp at $c=1/4$. There the critical orbit increases along the real interval to the parabolic fixed point $1/2$, so the cusp belongs to the set. The real section extends from $-2$ to $1/4$; the familiar period-two bulb is attached at $-3/4$.

The period-two bulb is the open disc $|c+1|<1/4$ of quadratic parameters with an attracting exact two-cycle. The points in that cycle are roots of $z^2+z+c+1$, whose product is $c+1$. Its multiplier is therefore $4(c+1)$, giving precisely the disc inequality. At $c=-3/4$ the two roots merge into the fixed point $-1/2$, whose original multiplier is minus one; the second iterate has multiplier one and a triple fixed-point root. This boundary point is the attachment to the main cardioid.

The main cardioid consists of quadratic parameters with an attracting fixed point. If that fixed point has multiplier $\lambda$, then it is $\lambda /2$ and $c=\lambda /2-{\lambda }^2/4$, $|\lambda |<1$. The map is injective on the open unit disc: equality of two parameter values forces either equal multipliers or their sum to be two, impossible for distinct interior multipliers. Its boundary is the cardioid obtained from $\lambda =e^{it}$. At $\lambda =1$ the parameter derivative vanishes, giving the cusp $c=1/4$. Parameters just to the real right of that cusp have monotonically escaping critical orbits, while the cusp's critical orbit tends to $1/2$, so it is on the Mandelbrot set boundary.