Description

Rating: Not rated

Tags: Self-Organization / Compelxity, Lang:en

Summary

**

FRACTAL MAGIC FOR CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS

**
FRACTALS--Seeing Nature's Hidden Dimension is an interactive book, for children from 7-14 years old and their parents, about opening our eyes to see the strange, beautiful forms of fractals everywhere. The whole universe is fractal, and seeing fractals can change the way you look at your world! In this richly illustrated book with 40 images, you will see fractals in trees, leaves, landscapes, water, rivers, clouds, flowers, snow, lightning, vegetables, biological networks, birds and sea creatures, as well as the author's inspired, fractal paintings.

Old Euclidean math deals with simple smooth shapes like points, lines, circles, cubes and squares, It’s useful for describing things that people make--buildings, bridges, industrial goods--but can’t explain the rough, irregular shapes found in nature. “Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles," said Mandlebrot, who coined the word, "fractal." This new geometry allows us to describe the unpredictable: the timing and sizes of earthquakes, fluctuations in financial markets and the variation in a person's heartbeat.

Fractals are not only mysterious and beautiful; they are useful, inspiring scientists in medicine, genetics, engineering, astronomy and ecology. Fractals can diagnosis diseases, create new products, like cell phone antennae. They create realistic alien environments in science fiction movies. like Star Trek and Star Wars, special effects and games, and dazzling art and music.

Most importantly, fractals change the way we see the world. Recognizing the chaotic, fractal nature of our world gives us new insight, and wisdom. It can teach us to trust our intuition, and gut instincts. Fractal geometry inspires us to study nature and find order in what seems random. FRACTAL THINGS TO DO, the final chapter of the book shows how children, as well as adults, can create their own fractals, and offers suggestions for learning more about nature’s hidden dimension and the thumbprints of creation.

**