madameblogalot

I watched part of a show on PBS this afternoon called Hunting the Hidden Dimension. It was very interesting to me. It is about the discovery and use of fractal geometry. I first heard of fractals about four years ago. I can’t remember exactly how I came upon it, but I remember trying to introduce my son to it. (He was in sixth grade and didn’t seem to really get “into” it, though mildly interested.) After watching today’s program, I can’t wait til he gets home so I can ask him if they have or will talk about this in his Geometry and/or engineering design classes.

Fractal Geometry was not really “discovered” until the late 1800’s and not really pursued until about the 1970’s. It is all about self similarity in designs. I guess what I find so intriguing about it all is the way that fractals are expressed in nature. You can see fractals in everything from broccoli and trees and clouds and cacti to coastlines and whole rain forests and the human systems (respiratory, neural, renal and circulatory)! The replication of a tree and its branches can even give a micro-view of the design of the whole forest in which it resides! In the program, of course, the scientists say that natural selection and evolution have hit upon a design that works. I just cannot believe that. To me, the intricate patterning and design that consistently works so efficiently points me to a Creator. I also wonder how tessalations (which I think are pretty much the same thing) and the Fibonacci Curl fit in with fractal geometry. I hope this is going to be taught in the schools at some level. This branch of geometry has already been used for things like measuring coastlines and making mirco-antennas for cell phones!