Fractals
"Fractals" is a descriptor in the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus,
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). Descriptors are arranged in a hierarchical structure,
which enables searching at various levels of specificity.
Patterns (real or mathematical) which look similar at different scales, for example the network of airways in the lung which shows similar branching patterns at progressively higher magnifications. Natural fractals are self-similar across a finite range of scales while mathematical fractals are the same across an infinite range. Many natural, including biological, structures are fractal (or fractal-like). Fractals are related to "chaos" (see NONLINEAR DYNAMICS) in that chaotic processes can produce fractal structures in nature, and appropriate representations of chaotic processes usually reveal self-similarity over time.
| Descriptor ID |
D017709
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| MeSH Number(s) |
E05.599.125 G17.290
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| Concept/Terms |
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Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more general than "Fractals".
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more specific than "Fractals".
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Below are the most recent publications written about "Fractals" by people in Profiles.