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From satellites to the London Olympics, all in one career

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Discover why the number 6174 is so mysterious.

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September 2008
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box dimension

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A question which has been vexing astronomers for a long time is whether the forces of attraction between stars and galaxies will eventually result in the universe collapsing back into a single point, or whether it will expand forever with the distances between stars and galaxies growing ever larger. Toby O'Neil describes how the mathematical theory of dimension gives us a way of approaching the question.

Tags: projection : fractal : dimension : scaling : box dimension : Cantor dust