If you read of the early work that Mandelbrot did on this equation, you will recall that despite having those symbols in front of him, he had to plot it out, cr

If you read of the early work that Mandelbrot did on this equation, you will recall that despite having those symbols in front of him, he had to plot it out, crudely at first on a line printer, before he fully understood the implications. Thus pictures are not only tutorial but a fundamental necessity for understanding mathematics.