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2026/09/28

Modeling systems

Fibonacci Sequence

Fibonacci numbers in Nature. The Romanesco Vegetable.
Do Plants Know Math? by PBS NOVA
Fibonacci Spiral Demo.
Fibonacci Music

The magic of Fibonacci numbers by Arthur Benjamin

Peter Hilton (1923-2010) discusses intriguing number tricks that can be explained by analysing the properties of Fibonacci numbers and the related Lucas numbers. The explanations themselves benefit from further explanations which, in their turn, lead to further discoveries. Recorded at Imperial College London during the 1996 London Mathematical Society Popular Lecture series.

D'Arcy Thompson

In retrospect: On Growth and Form by Phillip Ball.
D'Arcy Thompson's Affine Fish Transformations @ Wolfram
S.J. Gould. [1971] "D'Arcy Thompson and the Science of Form". New Literary History, 2 (2): 229-258
W. Arthur [2006]. "D'Arcy Thompson and the theory of transformations".Nature Reviews Genetics 7, 401-406.
Geometry of Growth and Form: Commentary on D'Arcy Thompson
Java applet for shell sketching

Patterns of Life – D’Arcy Thompson, Structuralism and the Shape of Life

Treasures of the Library 5. D'Arcy Thompson, On growth and form

Mathematics of Soft Cells.

BLOOMS: Strobe Animated Sculptures Invented by John Edmark from Charlie Nordstrom on Vimeo. "This series of 3D printed sculptures was designed in such a way that the appendages match Fibonacci's Sequence, a mathematical sequence that manifests naturally in objects like sunflowers and pinecones. When the sculptures are spun at just the right frequency under a strobe light, a rather magical effect occurs: the sculptures seem to be animated or alive!"

Labels: #Modeling, #SystemsScience

# posted by Luis Rocha @ 1:10 PM 0 comments

2024/09/25

Mathematicians discover new class of shape seen throughout nature

‘Soft cells’ — shapes with rounded corners and pointed tips that fit together on a plane — feature in onions, molluscs and more. Full article @ Nature.

Labels: #Modeling

# posted by Luis Rocha @ 6:27 PM 0 comments

2023/11/17

How mathematics built the modern world

"Mathematics was the cornerstone of the Industrial Revolution. A new paradigm of measurement and calculation, more than scientific discovery, built industry, modernity, and the world we inhabit today." Full article by Bo Malmberg and Hannes Malmberg @ worksinprogress

Labels: #Mathmatics, #Modeling

# posted by Luis Rocha @ 3:18 PM 0 comments

2023/05/08

The role of complexity for digital twins of cities

"We argue that theories and methods drawn from #complexity science are urgently needed to guide the development and use of digital twins for cities. [...]. This is the foundation for a new approach that treats cities not as large machines or logistic systems but as mutually interwoven self-organizing phenomena, which evolve, to an extent, like living systems." Full paper @ Nature Computational Science.

Labels: #Cities, #ComplexSystems, #Modeling, #UrbanComplexity

# posted by Luis Rocha @ 6:47 PM 0 comments

2021/03/22

What Data Can't Do

"if more data isn’t always the answer, maybe we need instead to reassess our relationship with predictions—to accept that there are inevitable limits on what numbers can offer, and to stop expecting mathematical models on their own to carry us through times of uncertainty." Full article at the New Yorker.

Labels: #data, #Modeling, #Numbers, #Prediction

# posted by Luis Rocha @ 1:29 PM 0 comments

2021/02/15

The Hard Lessons of Modeling the Coronavirus Pandemic

"In the fight against COVID-19, disease modelers have struggled against misunderstanding and misuse of their work. They have also come to realize how unready the state of modeling was for this pandemic." Full article @ Quanta Magazine.

Labels: #Covid, #Modeling

# posted by Luis Rocha @ 12:07 PM 0 comments

2021/01/04

modelling Covid, Interdisciplinarity, and Complexity

"The pandemic has created a tragic ‘natural experiment’ - a once-in-a-century jolt that could produce unexpected insights. As well as modelling the spread of disease, researchers have had to track the dynamics of social behaviour. Because of modern digital footprints, they have been able to do this in more detail than ever, providing unique insights into how individuals and communities respond to outbreaks. These behavioural changes, whether driven by explicit government policies or local awareness of infection risk, have in turn had complex social, economic and health impacts. Untangling such effects will no doubt be the subject of research far into the future." Full news article @TheGuardian.

Labels: #Covid, #Modeling, #pandemics

# posted by Luis Rocha @ 9:40 AM 0 comments