Jacob, C.,

Mathematica in Education and Research, Volume 4, No. 3 (1995), TELOS-Springer, 1995, pp. 12-19.

Abstract:

Rewriting has proved to be a useful technique for defining complex objects by successively replacing parts of simple initial objects using a set of rewrite rules or productions. Rewriting systems operating on character strings  have been successfully used for describing syntactic features of natural languages or for formal definitions of programming

languages.

Here we want to focus on a special type of rewrite systems, commonly termed L-systems, which are used in theoretical biology in order to describe and simulate natural growth processes. The introduction of L-systems dates back until 1968 when the biologist Aristid Lindenmayer (hence L-systems) defined a formal rule system (production system) where all letters in a given word are replaced in parallel and simultaneously. This feature makes L-systems

especially suitable for desribing fractal structures, cell divisions in multicellular organisms or flowering stages of herbaceous plants.

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