Patterns

Rhythm (from Greek , rhythmos, "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time can apply to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or frequency of anything from microseconds to several seconds (as with the riff in a rock music song); to several minutes or hours, or, at the most extreme, even over many years.

thumb|right|The mediaeval scala naturae as a staircase, implying the orthogenesis|possibility of progress: [[Ramon Llull's Ladder of Ascent and Descent of the Mind, 1305]]

thumb|A toy kaleidoscope

A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable and logical manner. There exists countless kinds of unclassified patterns, present in everyday nature, fashion, many artistic areas, as well as a connection with mathematics. A geometric pattern is a type of pattern formed of repeating geometric shapes and typically repeated like a wallpaper design.

aspect of music

interference pattern

thumb|Drawing of a zigzag thumb|A road in Akiruno, Tokyo|Akiruno, [[Japan designed with switchbacks]] thumb|right|A seismograph showing zigzag lines A zigzag is a pattern like a row of Ws joined together, consisting of a single line made up of line segments of usually constant length joined by usually constant angles in alternating directions.

crystal patterns found in some meteorites

thumb|upright|Close-up shot of a diamond-pattern knurling on a cylindrical work piece. Knurling method: left/right with tips raised, spiral angle: 30°, pitch: 1 mm, profile angle: 90°

2/2 time signature in Western music notation

visible regularity of form found in the natural world

thumb|An engine-turned (guilloché) watch dial made by Derek Pratt (watchmaker)|Derek Pratt and rejected by him due to imperfections that are almost invisible to the bare eye. thumb|250px|Ancient Roman art|Roman guilloche around a scene with Diana the Huntress, late 2nd century AD, mosaic, Bardo National Museum, [[Tunis, Tunisia]] Guilloché (), or guilloche (), is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate, and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name. Engine turning machines may include the

geometric pattern characteristic of Muslim art

zigzagging chevron pattern

long, narrow band of color, often in alternating sets

pattern of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines

type of symmetry group

A heterarchy is a system of organization where the elements of the organization are unranked (non-hierarchical) or where they possess the potential to be ranked a number of different ways. Definitions of the term vary among the disciplines: in social and information sciences, heterarchies are networks of elements in which each element shares the same "horizontal" position of power and authority, each playing a theoretically equal role. In biological taxonomy, however, the requisite features of heterarchy involve, for example, a species sharing, with a species in a different family, a common an

Expansive chemical reaction damaging concrete

The grainy appearance of an object when a laser is directed at it

how patterns in nature, such as stripes and spots, can arise naturally and autonomously from a homogeneous, uniform state

Square tiles used in graphic design

black (or other) and white chequered pattern, associated with policing

heraldic term

geological feature in Thurston County, Washington state, United States of America

thumb|Kaleidophone on display at Palais de la Découverte in Paris.The kaleidophone is a "philosophical toy" that produces moving optical figures.