Scientists say they have discovered a “mathematical formula for the shape of eggs” | Science
3 min readBird eggs have long attracted the attention of scientists around the world.
And now a group of researchers claims to have discovered the mathematical formula that can describe what kind of bird eggs look like. If confirmed, it would be a discovery that many have sought for decades.
Experts – from the University of Kent, in United kingdom; From the Research Institute for Environmental Processing, in Ukraine; And Vita-Market – they are said to have solved a mystery that has intrigued mathematicians, engineers and biologists interested in understanding something, the egg, large enough to contain and incubate the embryo and small enough to be expelled by the bodies of birds without rolling after it.
The scientists published their discovery in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, a scientific journal edited by the New York Academy of Sciences in the United States.
The egg, in fact, is a marvel of nature with the right skeletal structure to support the necessary weight and the beginning of life for the 10,500 species of birds that survived since the time of the dinosaurs.
no wonder The egg was described as “the perfect shape”..
Quoted from the science website Eurekalert! “Processes of biological evolution such as egg formation must be investigated for a mathematical description as a basis for research in evolutionary biology,” said Darren Griffin, a professor of genetics at the University of Kent and one of those responsible for the discovery.
Griffin believes that “the new universal formula can be used in various major disciplines, particularly in the food and poultry industry, and will serve as a catalyst for future research based on the egg as a subject of study.”
To date, all analyzes of egg shape have been based on four geometric shapes: spherical, elliptical, elliptical and pear-shaped (pear-shaped).
The Kent scientists provided an additional function of the pear, and thus developed a mathematical model suitable for an entirely new geometric shape, marked as the final stage of spherical-elliptic evolution, and which applies to the geometry of all eggs.
The new mathematical formula for the shape of eggs is based on four parameters: the length of the egg, its maximum width, the displacement of its vertical axis and its diameter at a height of a quarter of the length of the egg.
The new formula, which has been followed for years, represents important advances in understanding what the egg itself looks like, but also how and why it evolved — and hopefully enables a variety of biological and technological applications.
Food research, mechanical engineering, agriculture, biology, architecture and aviation They’ve already used mathematical descriptions of all the basic egg shapes which are some of the areas where the new formula can have the most impact.
Multiple possibilities
The new formula represents an important advance with possible applications in various sectors.
Now that the shape of the egg has been described using a mathematical equation, the work of biological regulation and optimization of processes, such as incubation and selection of birds, will become easier.
The external characteristics of the egg are vital to researchers and engineers developing techniques for incubating, storing, and selecting eggs.
You need to simplify identification by just using the egg’s size, radius, surface or curvature – and the newly developed formula provides a solution in this regard.
Not to mention the possibilities of architecture and engineering. The egg is a natural system that has been studied to develop cutting edge technologies.
In architecture, ovals are common, as in the City Hall in London and other buildings around the world, the adoption of which allows them to support maximum loads with minimum material consumption. The new egg formula should also help in this area.
City Hall in London is one example of the use of the oval in architecture. Image: Public Domain / via Wikipedia
Michael Romanoff, a visiting scholar at the University of Kent, argues that “this mathematical equation confirms our understanding and appreciation for a certain philosophical harmony between mathematics and biology, and for a greater understanding of our universe of them, clearly understood in the form of an egg.”
Valery Narushin, who was also involved in the project, concludes, “This groundbreaking study reveals why collaborative research from across disciplines is so important.”
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