Clear, concise, and accessible to the nonspecialist, In the Wake of Chaos explains the profound challenge of chaos theory to the traditional concepts of science: law, predictability, understanding, and control. Where traditional science is concerned with discrete facts and events, and with rigorous theories of why things happen, in chaos the emphasis is on patterns, behaviors, and models of how things happen. The central insight of chaos theory--that systems governed by mathematically simple equations can exhibit elaborate, ...
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Clear, concise, and accessible to the nonspecialist, In the Wake of Chaos explains the profound challenge of chaos theory to the traditional concepts of science: law, predictability, understanding, and control. Where traditional science is concerned with discrete facts and events, and with rigorous theories of why things happen, in chaos the emphasis is on patterns, behaviors, and models of how things happen. The central insight of chaos theory--that systems governed by mathematically simple equations can exhibit elaborate, even unpredictable behavior--is explored in lucid detail. But Kellert provides something more than a superb introduction to chaos theory: he shows what happens when effective marketing meets the practice of science. This book is a brilliant case study in the coming of age of a new science. Index included. One table, 14 line drawings.
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