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I was a bit disappointed when I found this out about it:

"The formula is a general-purpose method of decoding a bitmap stored in the constant k, and it could actually be used to draw any other image."

That makes it less of a self-referential formula in my opinion, and more of a cool formula that can print any bitmap.

Yeah, the title is misleading. There's nothing self-referential about this formula.

Now, if the formula was also capable of drawing the constant k, THAT would be exciting.

Jakub Travnik has a better version where the image includes the necessary constant. http://jtra.cz/stuff/essays/math-self-reference/index.html