Chaos theory studies systems that appear random but are governed by underlying patterns. It’s a field that blends mathematics, physics, and computer science to describe phenomena like weather patterns, population dynamics, and stock market fluctuations.
Fundamental Concepts
- Sensitivity to Initial Conditions: Small changes can lead to drastically different outcomes (the "butterfly effect").
- Fractals: Complex, self-similar patterns found in chaotic systems.
- Attractors: States toward which a system tends to evolve.
Applications of Chaos Theory
- Predicting climate variations.
- Modeling financial markets.
- Understanding neural networks in AI.
By unveiling the structure in apparent randomness, chaos theory offers profound insights into the interconnectedness of the universe.