Question

Does anyone understand chaos theory? I've Just been reading about it and wanted to check i understood it. am i right in thinking that chaotic systems are unpredictable because they are highly non-linear and very sensitive to initial conditions whci we cannot measure accuratley enough to make a long term prediction.

Answer 1

Actually it does not matter how well you messure it. The definition of a chaotic phenomena says that no matter how much information you have about the system, you can never use that information to predict how it will behave.

Answer 2

thanks

Answer 3

I disagree with Skrytis. Your original description of "highly non-linear and very sensitive to initial conditions whci we cannot measure accuratley enough to make a long term prediction" is more accurate. Chaos theory does not violate classical determinism, i.e. if we knew the position and momentum of every particle in the system, and had enough computing power we could predict precisely the future evolution of systems we call chaotic.

Answer 4

predictable in principle, but only if you know every single decimal place of the initial conditions - which in the real world, you don't :-)