Predictability: does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?

Nityananda, Rajaram and Lorenz, Edward U. (2015) Predictability: does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? Resonance: Journal of Science Education, 20 (3). pp. 260-263. ISSN 0973-712X

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Abstract

The phrase ‘butterfly effect’ is now in common use to describe a situation where a very small cause can produce a large effect after some time. Mathematically, a small change in the present state of the system grows exponentially, i.e., is multiplied by a fixed factor in equal intervals of time. Such behaviour had been noticed earlier in mathematical models and in celestial mechanics by people like Lyapunov and Poincaré. But it is fair to say that Lorenz’s work, rooted in something as practical as weather forecasting, showed that this was not a mathematical curiosity.

Item Type:	Article
Authors:	Nityananda, Rajaram and Lorenz, Edward U.
Subjects:	?? 010 ??
Divisions:	?? 4 ??
Full Text Status:	Public
Related URLs:	Google Scholar
URI:	http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/128
Publisher URL:	https://www.ias.ac.in/describe/article/reso/020/03...

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