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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 ]
An object has reflectional symmetry (line or mirror symmetry) if there is a line (or in 3D a plane) going through it which divides it into two pieces that are mirror images of each other. [6] An object has rotational symmetry if the object can be rotated about a fixed point (or in 3D about a line) without changing the overall shape. [7]
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]
Symmetry is one class of patterns in nature whereby there is near-repetition of the pattern element, either by reflection or rotation. While sponges and placozoans represent two groups of animals which do not show any symmetry (i.e. are asymmetrical), the body plans of most multicellular organisms exhibit, and are defined by, some form of symmetry.
Fish: Dorsal view of right-bending (left) and left-bending (right) jaw morphs [4]. Many flatfish, such as flounders, have eyes placed asymmetrically in the adult fish.The fish has the usual symmetrical body structure when it is young, but as it matures and moves to living close to the sea bed, the fish lies on its side, and the head twists so that both eyes are on the top.
Macroscopic examples of chirality are found in the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom and all other groups of organisms. A simple example is the coiling direction of any climber plant, which can grow to form either a left- or right-handed helix. In anatomy, chirality is found in the imperfect mirror image symmetry of many kinds of animal bodies.
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 the transform). [1]
In their review, they stated that the problem of creating a basis for systematizing patterns on the principles of symmetry was solved in Symmetries of Culture. They give three reasons for continuing to value the book: firstly, despite the passage of time, the book is still valid and useful; secondly, since the release of the book, the authors ...