Exploring Patterns in Nature Tutorials

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These tutorials are based upon materials developed by the Center for Polymer Studies at Boston University through support of the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. MDR-8955041, ESI-9353500, and DUE-9555194.

• Introduction
• The Fractal Coastline and Dimension
  • Coastline
    • HandsOn 1 - "Walking" Along a Coastline
    • HandsOn 2 - Measuring the Dimension of a Coastline
    • HandsOn 3 - Creating a Rope Coastline
    • HandsOn 4 - Creating a Rubber Band Coastline
    • HandsOn 5 - Covering a Coastline with Boxes
    • SimuLab 1 - "Walking" Along a Coastline
    • SimuLab 2 - Covering a Coastline
  • Dimension of "Non-Fractals"
    • HandsOn 6 - 1-, 2-, and 3-Dimensions
    • HandsOn 7 - Circle Measurement of Dimension
  • Mathematical Fractals
    • HandsOn 8- Creating Your Own Mathematical Fractal
  • Dimensions and Logarithms
  • What Do You Think?
  • Research Projects
• Measuring Randomness
  • Measuring Randomness
    • HandsOn 9 - Lottery Game
  • Observed Distributions
    • HandsOn 10 - Coin Flipping
    • SimuLab 3 - Wholesale Coin Flipping
  • Random Walks
    • HandsOn 11 - Ten-Step Random Walk
    • SimuLab 4 - One-Dimensional Random Walk
  • Pascal's Triangle
    • SimuLab 5 - Random Walk and Pascal's Triangle
    • SimuLab 6 - Width of a Distribution
    • SimuLab 7 - Average Position after N Steps
  • Measuring Average Distances
    • SimuLab 8 - Measures of Average Squared Displacement
  • Proving Average Squared Difference
  • The Wandering Ant on a Square Grid
    • HandsOn 12 - Random Walk in Two-Dimensions
    • SimuLab 9 - The Deer Program and Population Dynamics
  • Models in Science
  • What Do You Think?
  • Research Projects
• Physical and Chemical Branching Structures
  • Electrodeposition
    • HandsOn 13 - Growing a Pattern in the Laboratory
  • More on Fractal Dimension
    • SimuLab 10 - Measuring Fractal Dimension
  • Modeling Fractal Growth
    • HandsOn 14 - Building an Aggregate by Hand
    • SimuLab 11 - Building an Aggregate by Computer
    • SimuLab 12 - Changing Particle Movement
    • SimuLab 13 - Measuring the Computer-Generated Aggregation Program
  • Viscous Fingering
    • HandsOn 15 - The Hele-Shaw Experiment with Glycerin
    • HandsOn 16 - The Hele-Shaw Experiment with Carrageenan
    • SimuLab 14 - The Fractal Dimension of Hele-Shaw Patterns
  • Why Do Viscous Fingers Branch?
  • What Do You Think?
  • Research Projects
• Biological Branching Patterns
  • Bacterial Colonies
    • HandsOn 17 - Modeling a Rough Surface
    • HandsOn 18 - Bacterial Growth
  • Termite Nesting and Foraging in Two-Dimensions
    • HandsOn 19 - Termite Tunnel Patterns
  • Fractal Root Systems
    • HandsOn 20 - Building a Rhizotron and Germinating Seeds
    • HandsOn 21 - Growing Roots
  • Research Projects
• Diffusion
  • The Diffusion Chamber
    • HandsOn 22 - The Diffusing Checkers Model
    • SimuLab 15 - The Diffusion Chamber Simulation
    • HandsOn 23 - Deriving the Motion of Molecules
    • HandsOn 24 - Diffusion Chamber
    • HandsOn 25 - Location of the Precipitation Point
  • Periodic Precipitation: Liesegang Rings
    • HandsOn 26 - Liesegang Experiment
  • Research Projects
• Oozing and Growing: Percolation
  • Percolation in Nature
    • HandsOn 27 - Growing a Scattered-Seed Forest
    • SimuLab 16 - Modeling a Scattered-Seed Forest
    • SimuLab 17 - Gathering Statistics in Blaze
    • HandsOn 28 - Growing a Forest from a Single Tree
    • SimuLab 18 - Percolating Forests
    • HandsOn 29 - Jell-O Experiment
  • What Do You Think?
  • Research Projects
• Motion on a Fractal
  • Random Walk on a Fractal
    • HandsOn 30 - Random Walk on a Fractal
  • The Power Law for a Random Walker on a Sierpinski Gasket
  • Diffusion on a Sierpinski Gasket
    • HandsOn 31 - Resistance of a Fractal Network
    • HandsOn 32 - Measuring the Resistance of the Sierpinski Gasket
    • HandsOn 33 - Computing the Resistance of the Sierpinski Gasket
  • An Exact Solution for the Dimension of a Random Walk on a Sierpinski Gasket
• Software Downloads

Note: Some of these tutorials are Flash-enhanced

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