Mathematics in nature and art

In this chapter we give some examples of how several aspects and structures of mathematics appear in natural phenomena and in various art forms. On the one hand, the phenomena that the cosmos has produced since the `Big Bang’, including the different forms of life, are marked by processes determined by what we call the laws of nature, but on the other hand they are the result of accidental choices from a number of combinatorial possibilities available at certain moments of evolution. Hence it should be no surprise that mathematics, which has proved to be particularly suitable for describing both the laws of nature and probability theory, can contribute to a better understanding of what takes place in nature.