Data can also be stored on magnetic discs, which may be either hard, storing vast amounts of data, or floppy, which store less but can be taken out of the computer and carried around. It is only recently that computers have become common at work and at home, but they are now an indispensable part of everyday life, and there are few industries or businesses that do not use them in some capacity. Computers help us run our businesses more economically and safely. They perform complex calculations in a fraction of the time that would have been needed in the past. Aircraft, cars, and ships use computers to monitor things like geographical position, fuel consumption and engine temperature.
Many industries use computers, including book publishing.
Computers were used in every stage of the creation of this book. In trying to make computers work better, people have learned a great deal about numbers and systems. One surprising development was the discovery that computers can generate beautiful patterns from simple repeated mathematical calculations. These patterns, called fractals, seemed to mimic some of the wonderfully irregular shapes we see in nature such as trees and coastlines. Since these patterns were generated randomly, some people believe we may have underestimated the role of chance in forming natural shapes.