No Two Snowflakes are Alike in Myth and Math

Yesterday we had our first major snowfall of the season in Toronto, even if 5-10cm isn’t much by Canadian standards. Still, with all those snowflakes in all those shovel-fulls, it’s easy to think that there must be a lot of duplicates.

But wait! Look at the intricate structure in a “dendrite” snowflake, with all those little branches. How could you even define “alike”, let alone expect to find two snowflakes that are really alike?

The Myth and Math that No Two Snowflakes are Alike

"Snowflakes on Blue" : Image by Juliancolton2 (Julian Diamond)
“Snowflakes on Blue” : Image by Juliancolton2 (Julian Diamond)

Someone posed the question to Decoded Science, “How do we really KNOW that no two snowflakes are alike”?

This adage goes back to the first person to successfully photograph snowflakes, who noted that he had not found two alike.

It’s used as a metaphor expressing the notion that each human being is unique.

My “Estimating Whether No Two Snowflakes are Alike” sets out a way to determine whether snowflakes that are alike or different. Then it crunches some numbers: how many combinations of characteristics could make two snowflakes different, and how many flakes have ever fallen in the history of the world.

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The same kind of framework can deal with all kinds of important problems in the real world. Perhaps the most serious would be the likelihood of finding a donor who matches blood and tissue type for a medical patient who requires an organ transplant.

Publicity for my Snowflakes in Math Article

My Blog of Writing article, “Preview of Unique Snowflakes” adds a “cool” writing tip.

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Thank you for reading about the math supporting the adage that no two snowflakes are alike. We Canadians like variety, even in our snowflakes.