chaos theory

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

The branch of mathematics and physics concerned with deterministic dynamical systems that exhibit extreme sensitivity to initial conditions, producing behaviour that appears random and unpredictable despite being governed by deterministic rules; central concepts include attractors, bifurcations, fractals, and the Lyapunov exponent

History and origin

The modern field was launched by meteorologist Edward Lorenz's 1963 discovery of sensitivity in weather models; the term 'chaos' was applied mathematically by Tien-Yien Li and James Yorke in 1975

Examples

• Chaos theory showed why long-range weather forecasting is fundamentally limited: tiny measurement errors grow exponentially.
• The Lorenz attractor — shaped like a butterfly — became the iconic image of chaos theory.

Synonyms: deterministic chaos, nonlinear dynamics (partial overlap)