Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World

 Preface: The motivation for the book; Acknowledgments; Credits xiii
Prologue: Why I Might Never Have Written This Book xxi
CHAPTER ONE: The Confluence of Nature and Mathematical Modeling 1
CHAPTER TWO: Estimation: The Power of Arithmetic in Solving Fermi Problems 17
CHAPTER THREE: Shape, Size, and Similarity: The Problem of Scale 31
CHAPTER FOUR: Meteorological Optics I: Shadows, Crepuscular Rays, and Related Optical Phenomena 57
CHAPTER FIVE: Meteorological Optics II: A "Calculus I" Approach to Rainbows, Halos, and Glories 80
CHAPTER SIX: Clouds, Sand Dunes, and Hurricanes 118
CHAPTER SEVEN: (Linear) Waves of All Kinds 139
CHAPTER EIGHT: Stability 173
CHAPTER NINE: Bores and Nonlinear Waves 194
CHAPTER TEN: The Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio 213
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Bees, Honeycombs, Bubbles, and Mud Cracks 231
CHAPTER TWELVE: River Meanders, Branching Patterns, and Trees 254
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Bird Flight 295
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: HowDid the Leopard Get Its Spots? 309
APPENDIX: Fractals: An Appetite Whetter... 336
BIBLIOGRAPHY 341
INDEX 357