Author: Feng Zhu
Editors: Nayiri Kaissarian, Jimmy Brancho, and Noah Steinfeld
The first part of this post explained what chaos is, how it was first discovered in studies of the solar system, and why chaotic systems can be difficult to understand. In this second part of the post, we will explore what we can do to get a grip on such systems.
Author: Feng Zhu
Editors: Nayiri Kaissarian, Jimmy Brancho, and Noah Steinfeld
What is Chaos?
Is our solar system stable, or will the orbits of the planets at some point collapse into the Sun? Closer to home: will it rain tomorrow?
Both these questions turn out to be surprisingly tricky to answer for the same underlying reason: the mathematical models we use to understand these systems are chaotic.
