Editing Pattern (section)

{{Short description|Regularity in sensory qualia or abstract ideas}}
{{Other uses}}
{{multiple image|perrow =2|total_width=450
| image1 = Ionic frieze from the Erechtheum, dimensions 130 x 50 cm, in the Glyptothek.jpg
| image2 = Kleophrades Painter ARV 189 78bis mission to Achilles.jpg
| image3 = William Morris - "Pimpernel" - Google Art Project.jpg
| image4 = Strawberrythief.jpg
| image5 = Settee MET SF2007 368 img4.jpg
| image6 = Nikoxenos Painter ARV 221 14 athletes with trainer and flute player - satyrs as athletes (05).jpg
| image7 = D.A. Sturdza House, Bucharest (Romania) 32.jpg
| footer = Various examples of patterns
}}

A '''pattern''' is a regularity in the world, in human-made design,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.achrafgarai.com/what-are-design-patterns/|title=What are design patterns?|website=achrafgarai.com|access-date=1 January 2023|first=Achraf|last=Garai|date=3 March 2022}}</ref> or in [[abstraction|abstract]] ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A '''geometric pattern''' is a kind of pattern formed of [[geometry|geometric]] [[shape]]s and typically repeated like a [[wallpaper]] design.

Any of the [[sense]]s may directly observe patterns. Conversely, abstract patterns in [[science]], [[mathematics]], or [[language]] may be observable only by analysis. Direct observation in practice means seeing visual patterns, which are widespread in nature and in art. Visual [[patterns in nature]] are often [[Chaos theory|chaotic]], rarely exactly repeating, and often involve [[fractals]]. Natural patterns include [[spirals]], [[meander]]s, [[wave]]s, [[foam]]s, [[tessellation|tilings]], [[fracture|cracks]], and those created by [[Symmetry|symmetries]] of [[rotation symmetry|rotation]] and [[reflection symmetry|reflection]]. Patterns have an underlying [[Mathematics|mathematical]] structure;<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Stewart |first=Ian |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50272461 |title=What shape is a snowflake? |date=2001 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |isbn=0-297-60723-5 |location=London |pages= |oclc=50272461}}</ref>{{Rp|page=6}} indeed, mathematics can be seen as the search for regularities, and the output of any function is a mathematical pattern. Similarly in the sciences, theories explain and predict regularities in the world.

In many areas of the [[decorative arts]], from ceramics and textiles to [[wallpaper]], "pattern" is used for an ornamental design that is manufactured, perhaps for many different shapes of object. In art and architecture, decorations or [[Motif (visual arts)|visual motifs]] may be combined and repeated to form patterns designed to have a chosen effect on the viewer.