Dr. John A. Adam at Old Dominion University

Throughout these pages I have sprinkled, somewhat liberally, photographs illustrating various “patterns in nature” that I have taken during the last several years (and happened to have my camera with me!). All the photographs are my own. The pictures are not necessarily related to the contents bounding them. Periodically my pictures are published as part of Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD), a service of Universities Space Research Association sponsored by NASA Goddard.

From rainbows, river meanders, and shadows to spider webs, honeycombs, and the markings on animal coats, the visible world is full of patterns that can be described mathematically.

Examining such readily observable phenomena, this book introduces readers to the beauty of nature as revealed by mathematics and the beauty of mathematics as revealed in nature.

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Mathematics in Nature:
Modeling Patterns in the Natural World
John A. Adam

Princeton University Press, 2003.
Cloth | $39.50 / £26.95 | ISBN: 0-691-11429-3
448 pp. | 6 x 9 | 24 color illus. 84 line illus. 9 tables.

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