by BDanielMayfield » Mon Dec 30, 2013 5:30 pm
Anthony Barreiro wrote:Andy wrote:It's very nice but why is it Astronomy picture of the day?
Yes, it is a pretty picture, and I'm sure the mathematics are interesting, but I too fail to see any direct relation to astronomy. Perhaps someone who understands the math would enlighten us.
I’m not going to try explaining the math (“A man’s got to know his limitations.”), but fractals are an increasingly important way of looking at the cosmos. This is because fractal paterns are just about everywhere. Some even claim that the whole universe is fractal. I don’t think that it’s infinately fractal, but within boundery conditions of size fractal paterns can be disserned in all kinds of things, such as the shape of snowfakes, plants, natural coastlines, atmospheric clouds, star groupings, the overall structure of the universe’s galaxy clustering, etc.
So at least knowing about fractals is valuable for those wanting to understand the universe better.
Bruce
[quote="Anthony Barreiro"][quote="Andy"]It's very nice but why is it Astronomy picture of the day?[/quote]
Yes, it is a pretty picture, and I'm sure the mathematics are interesting, but I too fail to see any direct relation to astronomy. Perhaps someone who understands the math would enlighten us.[/quote]
I’m not going to try explaining the math (“A man’s got to know his limitations.”), but fractals are an increasingly important way of looking at the cosmos. This is because fractal paterns are just about everywhere. Some even claim that the whole universe is fractal. I don’t think that it’s infinately fractal, but within boundery conditions of size fractal paterns can be disserned in all kinds of things, such as the shape of snowfakes, plants, natural coastlines, atmospheric clouds, star groupings, the overall structure of the universe’s galaxy clustering, etc.
So at least knowing about fractals is valuable for those wanting to understand the universe better.
Bruce