Symmetry in Chaos : A Search for Pattern in Mathematics, Art, and Nature

This volume illustrates the varied pictures that may be produced when the seemingly contradictory ideas of symmetry and chaos are combined. Unlike the more modernistic fractal art, the symmetric chaos pictures have a classical, familiar feel. To emphasize this point, many of the designs are accompanied by contrasting pictures from architecture, art and nature. The book is written in layman's terms, and attempts to explain, in an elementary fashion, the mathematical ideas on which the symmetric chaos pictures are based. A number examples of symmetric chaos in the real world are presented, including engineering problems, "chaotic trains" and the pattern formation in fluid turbulence.