My friend and I are doing a speech on the butterfly effect. While researching we got snagged, and were wondering if anyone knew anything they thought might be helpful.
2006-11-06 12:08:08 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Environment
You probably know this already, but the butterfly effect relates to mathematical functions that are extremely sensitive to initial conditions. This is part of chaos theory. Benoit Mandelbrot is a mathematician who researched fractals. You might find something about this attached to his bio.
EDIT
"Sensitive dependence on initial conditions" was the phrase I was looking for.
2006-11-06 12:18:44 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is part of Chaos Theory, and states as an extreme example of Chaos Theory in action that a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere in the Amazon might be able to trigger a series of interrelated changes in the environment that cause a hurricane to form 3,000 miles away.
Some people, by the way, find the butterfly effect to be a good topic for satire, whether or not they believe in the other ideas in Chaos theory. The English science fantasy writer Terry Pratchett, in his novel "Interesting Times," makes his plot turn partly on the existence of an imaginary butterfly species that has evolved the ability to cause small hurricanes, as a survival strategy. Pratchett also has suggested in other humorous novels that Chaos Theory might just be a case of scientists making things up.
2006-11-06 20:32:47 · answer #2 · answered by Andy F 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
butterfly effect theory is a supenatural view on how things operate....its beyond understanding
2006-11-06 20:30:20 · answer #3 · answered by kohack97 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try Wikipedia. It's a good start.
2006-11-06 20:15:06 · answer #4 · answered by emalegria_1999 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋