A systematic and repetitive arrangement of parts in a system or collection of systems that may be static (i.e., as in a structure) and dynamical (i.e., as with a function). A pattern is a property of a system and not of its elements. A question is whether similar patterns across diverse systems have anything in common or that similarity arises by coincidence, with fractals involving self-similarity being a case in point.
See Fractals, Fundamental movement patterns, Pattern formation