LiveScience's Image of the Day

Crocheting Chaos

Friday December 17, 2004

More Images...

Many of us, if forced to pick up needle and yarn, would create an unrecognizable mess. But mathematicians - with the help of a computer program - were able to crochet a 3-D representation of chaos.

Chaos is the branch of mathematics that tries to describe seemingly random, unpredictable phenomena like weather and the turbulent flow of water in a stream.

These natural events are characterized by being extremely sensitive to small inputs. The famous analogy is that of a butterfly flapping its wings in China causing a tornado in Kansas.

The Lorenz equation is a mathematical formula developed by a meteorologist to describe the chaotic nature of weather. While studying this equation, Hinke Osinga and Bernd Krauskopf, both from Bristol University, realized that their computer animations could be translated into a crochet pattern.

Osinga, who learned to crochet at the age of seven, spent 85 hours to complete the 25,511 crochet stitches, which make up the 3-foot wide piece.

"The computer-generated crochet instructions were remarkable," Osinga said. "After all those months of trying to create it on screen, it was fascinating to see the surface grow under my own hands."

For those who would like to try their hand at generating chaos, the crochet instructions are available in the current issue of the Mathematical Intelligencer, and are downloadable from here. The authors have offered a bottle of champagne to the first person to finish the needlework.

Osinga has hung hers up as a Christmas decoration.

-- Michael Schirber

Credit: Bristol University

Advertisement

From the Blogs

LiveScience Blogs
  1. The Bug Hunt Is On. Target: Marine Aliens
  2. HARPS Discovery - HD 40307 And Its Three Super-Earths
  3. Can This British Columbia Lake Tell Us Something About Life On Other Planets?
  4. Power Equals Positive Action But Only When Acquired Legitimately
  5. X Chromosome Gets Some Respect As An Evolutionary Tool
  6. Estrogen Therapy May Limit Strokes In Women - But The Timing Has To Be Right
  7. Reminder: Garth Sundem's Foolproof Equations On The Science Channel Tonight At 6PM
  1. 6.15.2008 | Tariq Malik
    Father?s Day on Earth, in Space
    t’s Father’s Day on Earth, and just in time for the seven-astronaut crew of NASA’s shuttle Discovery, which landed yesterday in... ...
  2. 6.14.2008 | Robert Roy Britt
    Cutting the Technotether That Ruins Your Life
    he deluge of office and personal email and IM and texting, along with web surfing, putzing with iTunes and so on has workers increasingly distracted... ...

Related Items from the LiveScience Store

  1. Go to Store
  2. Go to Store

More Stores to Explore