Chaos Theory in Simple Terms

In the considerable amount of (welcome!) e-mail we recieve from this site, we have been continuously getting requests for a simple explanation of chaos theory. We have therefore decided that it would be more appropriate to create a new section of the time travel web site dedicated to answering this very important question for our visitors. As always, your comments are welcome.

Chaos theory is the theory of the unpredictable behaviour that can arise in systems obeying deterministic laws as a result of their sensitivity to variations in the initial conditions or to an excessive number of variables.  Although deterministic laws enable the condition of a system to be predicted at any time in the future, to do so often depends on an ability to specify with great precision a set of parameters at an exactly specified moment.  An example of chaos theory occurs in long-term weather forecasting.  T'he meteorological laws may be well understood, but obtaining exact parameters to use with them may not be possible.  In the butterfly effect, for example, it is postulated that the flap of a butterfly's wings can so upset the sensitive meteorological dynamics that an unforecast tornado may be set off by it.

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