What shape is a snowflake?
"Think of a zebra's stripes, the complexities of a spider's web, the uniformity of ocean waves and desert dunes, a flock of starlings wheeling about in the evening sky, or spirals in a sunflower head ... think of a snowflake." "These and other natural patterns have been recognized by scientists for centuries, and they can all be accounted for mathematically. What Shape is a Snowflake? shows how life on earth develops not simply from genetic processes, but also from the principles of mathematics. It reveals how the similarity between rows of waves and rows of sand dunes is more than coincidental. Starting with the simplest patterns, each chapter looks at a different kind of patterning system and the mathematics that underlies it. In doing so the book also uncovers some universal patterns, both in nature and man-made, from the basic geometry of ancient Greece to the visually startling fractals that we are familiar with today."--Jacket
Print Book, English, 2001
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2001