Modern, high-speed supercomputers have helped bring into being a new branch of science called "chaos." This term describes the phenomena exhibited by a dynamic system displaying apparently random behavior even in the absence of any random influences from outside the system. The mathematics of chaos involves the solution of non-linear equations; hence only with the computer is it possible to simulate the complex behavior of these systems.

One of the remarkable things to emerge from the science of chaos is that under certain conditions, ordered, regular patterns can be seen to arise out of seemingly random, erratic and turbulent processes. Computer graphics makes it possible to study how these patterns appear and disappear with changes in the system parameters. Many natural phenomena, such as the vortex of a tornado, can now be subjected to computer modeling.

Another very interesting finding of chaos theory is that there are higher levels of order that unify many of the diverse and complex patterns observed in different types of systems. That is, even though the systems themselves and their associated patterns may be quite different, there is a commonality in the rules which seem to govern the transition from chaotic to ordered motion. A simple analogy will illustrate this point: every house can be described by a unique set of blueprints, but each set of blueprints must conform to the Uniform Building Code. In other words, even the rules have rules.

Chaos theory is only one of the many areas where the appearance of patterns acts as a powerful engine driving scientists in an unending study of nature and the human condition. The following question seems appropriate: What is it about patterns that is so attractive that some of us spend an entire lifetime digging away in a dimly lit corner of human knowledge searching for something as intangible and as abstract as "structure" or "order"?