Hilbert Curve

The Hilbert curve (also known as the Hilbert space-filling curve) is a continuous fractal space-filling curve first described by the German mathematician David Hilbert in 1891, as a variant of the space-filling Peano curves discovered by Giuseppe Peano in 1890.

What you're seeing: Watch the curve recursively subdivide the square, creating a pattern that visits every pixel exactly once without crossing itself.

Applications: Data locality (mapping 2D to 1D for better cache performance), database indexing (spatial data structures), image processing (dithering algorithms), and TSP optimization (traveling salesman problem heuristics).

The curve maintains locality - points close on the curve are close in 2D space.