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Cited by 585

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 21 of the 21 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

A generic geometric transformation that unifies a wide range of natural and abstract shapes

Gielis, Johan·2003·American Journal of Botany

Abstract

To study forms in plants and other living organisms, several mathematical tools are available, most of which are general tools that do not take into account valuable biological information. In this report I present a new geometrical approach for modeling and understanding various abstract, natural, and man‐made shapes. Starting from the concept of the circle, I show that a large variety of shapes can be described by a single and simple geometrical equation, the Superformula. Modification of the parameters permits the generation of various natural polygons. For example, applying the equation to logarithmic or trigonometric functions modifies the metrics of these functions and all associated graphs. As a unifying framework, all these shapes are proven to be circles in their internal metrics, and the Superformula provides the precise mathematical relation between Euclidean measurements and the internal non‐Euclidean metrics of shapes. Looking beyond Euclidean circles and Pythagorean measures reveals a novel and powerful way to study natural forms and phenomena.

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Metadata

Authors
Gielis, J.
Venue
American Journal of Botany
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2003-03
Volume
90
Issue
3
Pages
333-338
ISSN
  • 0002-9122 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-2197
OpenAlex
W2141270723
Cited by
585
References
21
FWCI
16.47
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: A generic geometric transformation that unifies a wide range of natural and abstract shapes. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.3732/ajb.90.3.333
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Gielis, J. (2003). A generic geometric transformation that unifies a wide range of natural and abstract shapes. American Journal of Botany. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.90.3.333

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.