What is box count?

Box count is a mechanism used in image processing and fractal geometry to measure the self-similarity of fractal objects and images. The basic concept involves dividing an image into small boxes of a specified size, counting the number of boxes that contain at least one pixel of the object, and then repeating this process with progressively smaller box sizes. This allows researchers to quantify the scaling behavior of the object and estimate its fractal dimension. Box counting is widely used in fields such as biology, physics, medicine, and engineering to analyze complex structures and patterns that exhibit fractal properties. It is also frequently employed in computer vision, where it can be used to identify and segment images, detect edges and contours, and characterize textures and surfaces.