Pattern
For more meanings of Pattern
, see Pattern (disambiguation)A
pattern is a
form,
template, or
model (or, more abstractly, a set of
rules) which can be used to make or to generate things or parts of a thing, especially if the things that are generated have enough in common for the underlying pattern to be inferred or discerned, in which case the things are said to
exhibit the pattern.
Pattern matching is the act of checking for the presence of the constituents of a pattern. The detection of underlying patterns is called
pattern recognition. The question of how patterns arise naturally is dealt with by the scientific field of
pattern formation.
Some patterns (for example, many visual patterns) may be directly observable through the
senses.
Some patterns are named. Simple decorative examples are
stripes and
zigzags. Further examples include the regular
tiling of a
plane,
echoes, and balanced binary branching.
The simplest patterns are based on
repetition/
periodicity: several copies of a single template are combined without modification. For example, in aviation, a "holding pattern" is a flight path which can be repeated until the aircraft has been granted clearance for landing.
Pattern recognition is more complex when templates are used to generate variants. For example, in English, sentences often follow the "N-VP" (noun - verb phrase) pattern, but some knowledge of the English language is required to detect the pattern. Pattern recognition is studied in many fields, including
psychology,
ethology, and
computer science.
In addition to static patterns, there may be patterns of
movement such as
oscillation.
The
planets of our
solar system are caught in an incredibly ancient pattern by the gravity of the
Sun. The planets have been following their (very
predictable)
elliptical orbits for billions and billions of years. There is certainly a recognizable pattern/
cycle there.
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Sea shells, Sand Dollars
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Sand dunes,
Grand Canyon*
Tree branches,
ferns, coastal lines,
clouds
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Fir waves and
tiger bush are examples of
patterned vegetation*
Snowflakes
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Modern art:
Mondrian,
Op Art*
Impressionism:
Pointillism* Performance Art:
Crop circles*
Music:
MinimalismFractals are mathematical patterns. Naturally occurring patterns obey certain principles also found in fractals, for example
self-similarity. Even though self-similarity in nature is only approximate and stochastic, integral measures describing fractal properties can also be applied to natural "fractals" like
coastal lines,
tree shapes, etc. (see
fractal geometry). While the outer
appearance of self-similar patterns can be quite complex, the rules needed to describe or produce their
formation can be extremely simple (e.g.
Lindenmayer systems for the
description of tree shapes).
Patterns are also common in other areas of mathematics.
Recurring decimals will repeat a sequence of digits an infinite number of times. For example, 1 divided by 81 will result in the answer 0.012345679... the numbers 0-9 (except 8) will repeat forever — 1/81 is a recurring decimal.
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Crystals*
Tessellation*
Penrose tilings
*
Cellular Automata*
Pattern matching*
Design patterns*
Regular expressions
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Pedagogical patterns:"A pattern has an integrity independent of the medium by virtue of which you have received the information that it exists. Each of the chemical elements is a pattern integrity. Each individual is a pattern integrity. The pattern integrity of the human individual is evolutionary and not static."R.
Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), U.S.American philosopher and inventor.
Critical Path, 1981.:"Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern."Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), English philosopher and mathematician.
Dialogues, June 10, 1943.
Mathematics is commonly described as the "Science of Pattern."
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Pattern recognition*
DNA motifs
*
Pattern (sewing)*
Form constant*
Automated pattern digitizing*
A Pattern Language*
A Cellular Automaton
