" The equations showed that the answer depends on how similar the oscillators are. If they’re identical, or nearly so, I found that the disturbances grow exponentially fast as oscillators clump together in phase, in an embryonic form of sync. Then out popped a formula for the exponential growth rate (analogous to the interest rate for how fast your money compounds in the bank). No one had ever found such a formula before. "

― Steven H. Strogatz , Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order