Ideas change everything

The fractals at the heart of African designs

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Ron Eglash |

TEDGlobal 2007

• June 2007

'I am a mathematician, and I would like to stand on your roof.' That is how Ron Eglash greeted many African families he met while researching the fractal patterns he'd noticed in villages across the continent.

'I am a mathematician, and I would like to stand on your roof.' That is how Ron Eglash greeted many African families he met while researching the fractal patterns he'd noticed in villages across the continent.

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Ron Eglash is an ethno-mathematician: he studies the way math and cultures intersect. He has shown that many aspects of African design -- in architecture, art, even hair braiding -- are based on perfect fractal patterns.

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African Fractals

Ron Eglash | Rutgers University Press (2002)

Ron Eglash - *African Fractals*

The infinite patterns within the pattern

Fascinated by fractals? Find out more about them and how they influence African architecture on Eglash's site.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.