Computers, Pattern, Chaos and Beauty: Graphics from an Unseen World - Softcover

Pickover, Clifford A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 031206179X ISBN 13: 9780312061791

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1991

Synopsis

Combining fractal theory with computer art, this book introduces a creative use of computers. It describes graphic methods for detecting patterns in complicated data and illustrates simple techniques for visualizing chaotic behavior. "Beautiful." — Martin Gardner, Scientific American. Over 275 illustrations, 29 in color.

About this title

From the Author

Loaded with stunning computer-generated images, I attempt to reveal an entirely new way of seeing. Topics include: computers and creativity; lateral thinking; hidden patterns in nature, music, genetics and sounds; musical snowflakes, fractal speech, the Shroud of Turin, genesis fractals, biomorphs, chaos, synthesizing nature, cellular automata, ornamental patterns, symmetry, mathematics and beauty, and much more.

Here is what others have said about the book:

"Chaos and fractals are revolutionary topics these days as they find increasing applications in science, pure mathematics, and computer graphics. Dr. Clifford Pickover, long at the center of this cyclone, has produced a truly stunning survey of its manifold consequences. No informed layperson, artist, scientist, or mathematician should pass up the experience of stepping through the portals of this beautiful book into the fantastic new worlds that computers are now exploring in the way a telescope or microscope explores the awesome wonders of nature." - Martin Gardner

"Pickover takes the reader on a stimulating odyssey through the world of computer graphics, a world that surprisingly involves the Shroud of Turin, snowflakes, and the genes that cause cancer." - Paul Hoffman

"A spectacular encounter between the art of the mathematician and the mathematics of art." - Ian Stewart

"A cornucopia of visual ideas, Pickover's book unveils one eye-catching vista after another at the frontiers of scientific and mathematical visualization." - Ivars Peterson, Science News

"It is unfortunate that modern Western man has come to perceive the arts and the sciences as separate, conflicting lines of human endeavor. Pickover's book reunites these disciplines with a marriage of substantive technical content and expertly crafted prose." -Ben Bacon

From Publishers Weekly

Computer graphics reveal hidden relationships in complex systems, make confusing data understandable and provide scientists and mathematicians with a tool for discovery and problem-solving. Featuring 200 black-and-white computer images and eight pages in color, this sourcebook includes programming exercises and mathematical recreations. Though most of the narrative requires advanced mathematical understanding, the general reader will find the computer artwork intriguing. The sounds of human speech yield snowflake-like patterns; Art Nouveau-ish images emerge out of mathematical relationships; structural changes in biomolecules produce graphics resembling galaxies and whirlpools. Diligent readers will gain an appreciation of how computer imaging helps scientists simulate plant tendril growth, analyze the Shroud of Turin, unravel the structure of cancer genes and investigate spiral patterns in DNA and galaxies' arms. Pickover is an editor at Computers and Graphics.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 031206179X
• ISBN 13: 9780312061791
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 394