The Teaching Company: Chaos

It has been called the third great revolution of 20th-century physics, after relativity and quantum theory.

But how can something called chaos theory help you understand an orderly world? What practical things might it be good for? What, in fact, is chaos theory?

"Chaos theory," according to Dr. Steven Strogatz, Director of the Center for Applied Mathematics at Cornell University, "is the science of how things change." It describes the behavior of any system whose state evolves over time and whose behavior is sensitive to small changes in its initial conditions.

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Courtesy of Wolfgang Beyer (www.wolfgangbeyer.de)
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Education

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• math
• Dr. Steven Strogatz
• The Teaching Company
• Great Courses
• University Lectures
• Henri Poincaré
• teach12.com

[SilverShamrock71]

how about when you get down to the sub atomic level, is it still possible to keep increasing magnification and therefore measured distance infinitely?

[3LARI]

@Aldeberan9 It's not propaganda, it's actually true. From a biological perspective, there is no difference between humans. We all evolved from a single species billions of years ago. Anyway, race should never be an issue and if it is for you, well... each to his own, but I'd recommend looking for similarities rather than differences. It's all a matter of perceptions.

[100CommonCents]

@Aldeberan9 it is from a biological perspective

[HaveLucidDreamz]

@Aldeberan9 actually its not, the purpose of a liberal arts education is to learn to see things from a different perspective and participate in discussions over issues which affect human society and life at large. If you have a good professor they can do this, and if you have a great professor they can do this while still being able to respect people's right to their individual opinions and ideologies. Propaganda goes a step further, it attempts to convert you to that different perspective.

[Aldeberan9]

I heard a TTC anthropology lecture that basically was saying race is a figment of our imagination. That isn't teaching, it is propaganda.

[Soulquarium]

Not only Is Dr. Strogatz come off as a very knowledgeable professor in his field of expertise, he also manages to seem very self effacing as an person.

[ericjohnsa]

@Soulquarium ... That is awesome. Since time is the only thing none of us can afford to waste, it makes sense to spend some of it watching and learning from the best professors our planet has to offer. Doing the workbooks together as a family is a wonderful idea... I'm glad you shared it. :)

[Soulquarium]

@ericjohnsa Dr. Mark Whittle...he's incredible! My wife and daughter(who is in 5th grade) will sit down and watch TTC videos, and have a deep discussion afterwards regarding what took place and what was learned. We watch everything they put on DVD we can get out hands on, and we do the workbooks together.

[PathIntegration]

I think you went into the hinterlands at bout 5:06. I was going to post something relevant to what's called 'the renormalization group" in physics, but this guy kinda messed the whole idea up towards the end

[3e3op88]

The Teaching Company rocks!