Chaos theory - Simple English Wikipedia

# Chaos theory

### From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

In mathematics and physics, Chaos Theory is the study of events that look like they are random, but actually have a hidden order or way of acting. All it would take is something new to come into the system or pattern, and almost everything changes. Since Chaos Theory is just a theory, this means that scientists use it as a possible way of explaining why some things that are beyond human control act the way they do; it is very hard for them to prove everything, or for them to answer every question they can imagine using just Chaos Theory on its own.

Chaotic systems, when you ask scientists, are very sensitive to their starting layout. That means that one tiny change to the system (or pattern) can cause the whole thing to be very different after enough time passes. Scientists call this the butterfly effect, because now it is possible to imagine that even a little butterfly flapping its little wings could cause a big storm somewhere else (or even stop a different storm somewhere else). Many scientists find this surprising, and really interesting to study and learn more new things from.

These systems might appear random at first look (like our weather, for example), but Chaos Theory says that these kinds of systems or patterns may not be so random after all if people pay close enough attention to what is really going on.

A very important part to the study of chaos is the study of math functions that are known as fractals. Fractals are special math functions that can keep going without stopping (scientists call that "continuous"). Fractals also can happen in everything at once and are not unique to just one idea (scientists say that they are not "differentiable"). A good example of how scientists can use fractals to study Chaos Theory is studying how the wind blows around the Earth, or looking at very tiny patterns in a tree's leaves.

In the Micheal Crichton book Jurassic Park, Ian Malcolm studies Chaos Theory a lot. His ideas on Chaos Theory help other people by letting him imagine things that could go wrong, and warning the right people to fix it before they happen.

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Categories: Mathematics | Physics

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