A Peacock feather to me is nature at it’s most perfect. Like snow flakes and sunflowers and seashells. Watching a doco the other week I was amazed to discover that the forms these objects take on can actually be mathematically measured, otherwise known as natural fractals.

A natural what?

Fractal. Order in nature.

Patterns, process, uncertain certainty – an identical reaction that can’t be predicted exactly.

Think about sand dunes. We know what patterns to expect when the wind blows across them, but we just don’t know exactly where or how the pattern will appear, only that it will most certainly appear.

When I think of nature I certainly don’t think of maths, but according to Galileo:

“Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe.” — Galileo Galilei

He would say something like that. And he wasn’t wrong.

Fractals are actually a group of equations referred to as The Mandelbrot set, and are objects that displays self-similarity at various scales – meaning no matter how much you zoom in or out the proportions will be the same.

Fractals can be found all through nature in trees, water, feathers, leaves, landscapes, clouds etc etc….. keep your eyes open because you just never know when that uncertain certainty will hit you in the face (and if you can’t wait for that, then visit Fractal Enlightenment, a site completely dedicated!)

Images thanks to Miqel.com // TinG // Cobalt123 // Digimist // Maia.C // Mommamia // GeoEye/Space Imaging // SaversPlanet

About Ingrid Schroder

A Sydney-side freelance graphic designer, photographer & yoga teacher - I find myself turning to nature for guaranteed revival from the crazy pace of city life - be it digging in my garden, capturing natural beauty through a lens, floating in the ocean, practicing yoga or out exploring this incredible planet we all call home. Follow me on twitter @Cohabitaire