Pattern Formation
Subtitle: An Introduction to Methods (Cambridge Texts in Applied Mathematics)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: April 3, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 432
ISBN-13: 9780521817509
Subjects: Applied mathematics; Mathematics; Science/Mathematics; Applied; Science / Mechanics / Dynamics / Fluid Dynamics
First sentence: This book is about patterns: stripes on tigers, whorls in your fingerprints, ripples in sandy deserts, and hexagons you can cook in your own kitchen.
Description: From the stripes of a zebra and the spots on a leopard's back to the ripples on a sandy beach or desert dune, regular patterns arise everywhere in nature. The appearance and evolution of these phenomena has been a focus of recent research activity across several disciplines. This book provides an introduction to the range of mathematical theory and methods used to analyse and explain these often intricate and beautiful patterns. Bringing together several different approaches, from group theoretic methods to envelope equations and theory of patterns in large-aspect ratio-systems, the book also provides insight behind the selection of one pattern over another. Suitable as an upper-undergraduate textbook for mathematics students or as a fascinating, engaging, and fully illustrated resource for readers in physics and biology, Rebecca Hoyle's book, using a non-partisan approach, unifies a range of techniques used by active researchers in this growing field.