“White noise…is entirely uncorrelated data… A visual representation of white noise is the static or “snow” on a television set that is not tuned into a station…
Brown noise…is highly correlated... Because it is highly correlated, you can fairly accurately predict where any data point will fall given the point that came before it. It is also referred to as a random walk or a drunkard’s walk. You know that the next step has to be within a few feet of space as opposed to the other side of the room, which would be physically impossible. So, a random walk serves as a good visual for brown noise…
Now pink noise is special. It is where the order of brown noise and the chaos of white noise meet. It is correlated enough to create a pattern, but chaotic enough to be interesting. Human heartbeat is a good example of pink noise. If you were to plot your heart rate throughout the course of a day it would over all be pretty consistent, but would vary (depending on how active you were at each moment, what your breathing rate was, etc.). Pink noise has also been demonstrated in various naturally occurring bodies that lack a nervous system; such as quasar luminosity, tide and river height and traffic flow.”
- Gilden Lab, http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/group/GildenLAB/fractal.htm
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