Seashells: the Plainness and Beauty of Their Mathematical Descriptions

How do plants and animals grow, one might ask? Jorge Picado of the Universidade de Coimbra recently looked into the question of how seashells grow, and has produced this lovely article which is offered as part of the Mathematical Association of America's (MAA) Digital Library collection. As Picado suggests in the abstract for this paper, "Many aspects of the growth of plants and animals may be described by remarkably simple mathematical laws." Utilizing the LiveGraphics3D Java applet, Picado elaborates on how seashells grow, along with offering some commentary on additional examples and a bibliography.

http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/23/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=3294

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