Fractals

                                                   

Upon reading that I had started a Math Blog, a colleague sent me a short, yet encouraging, message that summarized a casual lesson I shared with him ten years ago "Fractals are everywhere." Rather than a review of the equations that create fractal patterns, I find it more satisfying when we see fractal patterns in nature. Checking up on a young cedar in my yard, I saw this example of a self-similar pattern in nature.

More examples and better photographs than mine are available at Fractals in Nature.

Update 7/11/2021 - Article in Science News: How Romanesco cauliflower forms its spiraling fractals 

Shout out to Steven Lasry for this image.