It will also explain the role of fractals, beautiful and intricate geometrical shapes that are somehow associated with chaos. The revolution of scientific thought pioneered by Isaac Newton led to a vision of the universe as some gigantic 'clockwork' mechanism, a point of view known as 'determinism'. This idea has been spectacularly successful in helping us come to terms with the world around us. But now mathematicians and physicists have run into an apparent paradox. Order can breed its own peculiar kind of disorder.
Deterministic causes can have effects that seem random.
The Science of Patterns Mathematics is the science of patterns. A pattern is a landmark in the magical maze. Many common types of pattern are symmetric. Symmetries are widespread. We find them in kaleidoscopes, allowing us to design bathroom mirrors that don't reverse left and right.