Scene Three Example

In describing her discovery of a new kind of geometry, Thomasina says

Thomasina   Every week I plot your equations dot for dot, xs against ys in all manner of algebraical relation, and every week they draw themselves as commonplace geometry, as if the world of forms were nothing but arcs and angles. God's truth, Septimus, if there is an equation for a curve like a bell, there must be an equation for one like a bluebell, and if a bluebell, why not a rose? Do we believe nature is written in numbers? Septimus   We do. Thomasina   Then why do your shapes describe only the shapes of manufacture? Septimus   I do not know. Thomasina   Armed thus, God could only make a cabinet. (pg 37)

Thomasina has anticipated the geometry of fractals.

Here are some examples from Nature: a tree and a fern.

Here we plot a fern and a tree dot for dot, using fractal geometry. Under the Scenarios menu select "Barnsley's Fern" or "Tree."

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