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Patterns in nature are visible regularities of form found in the natural world. These patterns recur in different contexts and can sometimes be modelled mathematically. Natural patterns include symmetries, trees, spirals, meanders, waves, foams, tessellations, cracks and stripes. [1] Early Greek philosophers studied pattern, with Plato ...
Importantly, unlike in mathematics, symmetry in biology is always approximate. For example, plant leaves – while considered symmetrical – rarely match up exactly when folded in half. Symmetry is one class of patterns in nature whereby there is near-repetition of the pattern element, either by reflection or rotation.
A geometric shape or object is symmetric if it can be divided into two or more identical pieces that are arranged in an organized fashion. [5] This means that an object is symmetric if there is a transformation that moves individual pieces of the object, but doesn't change the overall shape. The type of symmetry is determined by the way the ...
Floral symmetry. [Left] Normal Streptocarpus flower (zygomorphic or mirror-symmetric), and [right] peloric (radially symmetric) flower on the same plant. Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of ...
The honeycomb is a well-known example of tessellation in nature with its hexagonal cells. [82] In botany, the term "tessellate" describes a checkered pattern, for example on a flower petal, tree bark, or fruit. Flowers including the fritillary, [83] and some species of Colchicum, are characteristically tessellate. [84]
Example pattern with this symmetry group: A typical example of glide reflection in everyday life would be the track of footprints left in the sand by a person walking on a beach. Frieze group nr. 6 (glide-reflections, translations and rotations) is generated by a glide reflection and a rotation about a point on the line of reflection.
Iwasaki's snail-eater snake (Pareas iwasakii) is a snail-eating specialist; even newly hatched individuals feed on snails. It has asymmetric jaws, which facilitates feeding on snails with dextral (clockwise coiled) shells. A consequence of this asymmetry is that this snake is much less adept at preying on sinistral (counterclockwise coiled) snails.
Symmetry (geometry) A drawing of a butterfly with bilateral symmetry, with left and right sides as mirror images of each other. In geometry, an object has symmetry if there is an operation or transformation (such as translation, scaling, rotation or reflection) that maps the figure/object onto itself (i.e., the object has an invariance under ...