These investigations led to the more mature theories of Chaos and Fractals and have since been generalized to the form of Complexity theory. The numerical reference is to the domain of lines, planes, solids, and higher dimensional spaces as understood in traditional forms. Dimension itself provides a measure of how a shape or object fills the space. Click here for more details. Complexity theory deals with processes where a large number of seemingly independent agents act coherently.
Complexity can be a dynamical process, or an object.
We recognize the qualitative aspects of complex objects without being able to precisely measure them. Trees, handwriting, and riverbeds are all objects that are individual yet have global characteristics. Complexity assures that they are different in detail while similar in concept. That is, they are locally random, but globally deterministic. They are fractal .