Mysterious Patterns: Finding Fractals in Nature
By Sarah C. Campbell; photos by Sarah and Richard Campbell
32 pages; ages 7 - 10
Boyds Mills Press, 2014
themes: math, nature
If you’ve never heard of a fractal, then this is the book
for you. Sarah Campbell begins by looking at simple shapes around us: cones, cylinders, spheres, rectangles. Then
she moves on to things in nature that don’t have perfect shapes.
“Instead of being straight, smooth, and flat, many natural
shapes are rough, bristly, and bumpy,” she writes. True enough when you’re
looking at a head of broccoli, a fern, or even a tree.
Before 1975 no one really had a name for these shapes. Then,
a mathematician named Mandelbrot noticed something interesting: these shapes
had repeating patterns. For example,. A tree starts with a stem that divides
into branches, which each divide into branches, until the very last and
smallest split into twigs. He called these patterns “fractals”.
In her book, Campbell provides photos of different kinds of
fractals. Then she provides a DYI “make your own fractal” activity and ends
with a biographical sketch of Mandelbrot.
What I Like: The explanations are straight-forward and the
photos really help illustrate her points.
Beyond the book: Are snowflakes fractals? After the Nor’easter
this week, I’ve got snowflakes on my mind. And on my boots and the porch and
the roof of the garage. But, although they have patterns, the snowflakes falling out of the sky aren't necessarily fractals.
Make your own snowflakes - all you need is paper and scissors. And these hints.
Go on a Fractal Hike. If you're wondering what sort of fractals you might find in nature, check out this video. Remember to take your sketchbook and some pencils so you can draw any fractals you dome across.
Make a Koch Snowflake Fractal - start with an equilateral triangle. Then add equilateral triangles on the sides - and keep adding more. Like this.
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Today is STEM Friday - head over to the STEM Friday blog to see what other bloggers are reviewing. Review copy provided by publisher.
I will be looking for this book. It sound fascinating. Thanks for telling me about it.
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