Geeky Math Equation Creates Beautiful 3-D World | Wired Science | Wired.com

Because I am somewhat of a Sci-Fi geek, ( YES, I DID see Star Wars, the ORIGINAL, at least 5 times, in the 70s and wanted to marry Hans Solo), I have "Wired" website in my Favorite queue on my computer so that I stay somewhat informed of what's new in the electronics and sci-fi realm.  Most of the time, the articles go above and beyond my right-brained sensibilities.  But SOMETIMES I get lucky enough to stumble upon an article like the one I saw this morning.

It was the photograph that took my breath away.  The continuity of line and form- the repetition of pattern that has no beginning or no end- is hypnotizing.  All the nooks and crannies and intricate details made me curious as to just WHO designed this piece.  And then I read the article.  It was a 3-D example of a logarithm.  A LOGARITHM.  A LOGARITHM?!?!?!?!?!?!......

For those of you who don't know:

The Definition of a Logarithm:  a logarithm is an exponent

A logarithm is an exponent.

For those of you who are visual, like I am:

y = log_bx if and only if b^y = x,
where x > 0, b > 0, and b 1.

For those of you SICK enough to dive further:

http://www.andrews.edu/~calkins/math/webtexts/numb17.htm#DEF

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Math????

We have been discussing the multiple definitions of design in Dr. Housefield's Design 001 class, and it has been brought to our attention that nature is one thing that in non-design ( although I like to call it God's design, I can neither prove it or argue it, nor do I want to so here): nature is not conceived or planned by man, nor produced by man. BUT, nature, science, and EVEN math CAN inspire us.
Math has long since been in existence since ancient Greece in explaining the mechanics of the universe and physics at large. The answers, satisfying when seen in mathematical equations, are as stimulating to some as the visual equivalent of mathematics DESIGNED......



Geeky Math Equation Creates Beautiful 3-D World Wired Science Wired.com: "Geeky Math Equation Creates Beautiful 3-D World
By Alexis Madrigal December 9, 2009 8:00 pm Categories: Brains and Behavior, Physics

Editor’s note: We are rerunning this gallery of 3-D images inspired by the work of Benoit Mendelbrot, who is best known for popularizing fractal mechanics. Mandelbrot died Oct. 14, 2010, at the age of 85.
The quest by a group of math geeks to create a three-dimensional analogue for the mesmerizing Mandelbrot fractal has ended in success.
They call it the Mandelbulb. The 3-D renderings were generated by applying an iterative algorithm to a sphere. The same calculation is applied over and over to the sphere’s points in three dimensions. In spirit, that’s similar to how the original 2-D Mandelbrot set generates its infinite and self-repeating complexity.
If you were ever mesmerized by the Mandelbrot screen saver, the following images are worth a look. Each photo is a zoom on one of these Mandelbulbs.
Also, see our gallery of fractals in nature.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/mandelbulb-gallery
Please, please, please go to Wired and look at the entire gallery, and you too will see that Math, Science, Art and Design CAN go hand-in-hand....