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A few quick examples:

  • Breeding bunnies $\rightarrow$ the Fibonacci sequence
  • Projectile/planetary motion $\rightarrow$ conic sections
  • Natural springs and sinks $\rightarrow$ Gauss' law
  • Galilean relativity + constant speed of light $\rightarrow$ non-Euclidean geometry
  • Relativistic gravity $\rightarrow$ intrinsic curvature
  • Invariances of Maxwell equations $\rightarrow$ Conformal transformations
  • Observables in quantum mechanics $\rightarrow$ Lie groups (a la Wigner)

EDIT:

  • Symmetries of the electron $\rightarrow$ Quaternions
show/hide this revision's text 1 [made Community Wiki]

A few quick examples:

  • Breeding bunnies $\rightarrow$ the Fibonacci sequence
  • Projectile/planetary motion $\rightarrow$ conic sections
  • Natural springs and sinks $\rightarrow$ Gauss' law
  • Galilean relativity + constant speed of light $\rightarrow$ non-Euclidean geometry
  • Relativistic gravity $\rightarrow$ intrinsic curvature
  • Invariances of Maxwell equations $\rightarrow$ Conformal transformations
  • Observables in quantum mechanics $\rightarrow$ Lie groups (a la Wigner)