Yes, that is exactly correct. You didn't waste any time. You had a legitimate concern and you figured it out. You should pat yourself on the back.
In this post, I wrote z → z² + c which reads "z becomes z squared + c" which is a more accurate statement of an iterative function. This is not an "equation" in the traditional sense.
In this post, I wrote z = z² + c which looks more like a equation because it has an equal sigh. It is OK to write it this way long as one realizes that the z on the left is not the same as the z on the right. To be more accurate, I should write:
znext = zprevious² + c
You also have to keep in mind that c is a complex number which I will be explaining in a future post. {Spoiler alert, real numbers live on a 1-dimensional real number line and complex numbers live in a 2-dimensional complex plane.)
Hope this helps.
RE: The Universal Fractal: Complexity from Simplicity