Chaos
in 1987 with the publication of James Gleick’s book Chaos. It’s
Cm is the twin of complexity. It burst into the public psyche
not a difficult concept to grasp. Complex systems can be formed using simple rules, and very small changes in starting conditions can profoundly affect future events. I experience this if I miss my train to work in the morning: 30 seconds either way will change the whole pattern of my day, the people I meet and the level of stress I experience.
I’m sure you can think of similar experiences.
Henri Poincaré, a French mathematician, first studied the effect back in 1880. Poincaré was trying to solve an old mathematical problem called the Three Body Problem originally set by Isaac Newton. Take the Earth, Mars and the Sun. These three bodies orbit each other, or strictly speaking a point in space somewhere between them. Is there an equation that will tell you where the bodies will be in, say, 100 years’ time?
The answer is surprising, no. The three bodies will orbit in a non-repeating way. There is no analytical short cut, no equation that will predict where they will be
Poincaré
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