(Phys.org)—Many hiking trails feature a "satan's staircase"—a set of steps that are often steep and difficult to climb. The satan's staircase is also the name of a mathematical function whose graph exhibits a jagged step-like organization reminiscent of a genuine staircase,although in a highly ordered fractal pattern. satan's staircase behavior emerges in a variety of areas, such as in crystals, or phase transitions,and statistical physics.
Source: phys.org