Choas Theory by Prof. Jacobson

("Dynamical Systems". Here. 6 April 2010.)

Chaos, the final frontier?
Prof. Jacobson's lecture on Dynamical systems was a blast from the past that reminded me of one of my teachers back in 8th or 9th grade. Although I was to young to fully understand what my teacher had to say, many of the ideas about Dynamical systems and the Chaos Theory that prof. Jacobson talked about rang bells. In a mathematical sense the way nonlinear dynamics form can cause a irregular set of points and numbers made by change over time. Prof. Jacobson used the ever common y=x^2-2 and with each answer replugged the number back into the equation. After only a few repeats, the answers became more wild and less likely to be predicted inside the parameters. Like-wise, a small almost unnoticeable change in the number at the beginning would cause great changes within a short amount of time.
What took my to my interest the most however was the way which he tried to relate the Chaos Theory to cases in life where it could be helpful. Two of which were the reason for why artificial hearts fail and the study of neurology. It will be interesting to see how the Chaos Theory is applied to other fields in years to come. Perhaps it will find an area of space discovery which had been troublesome or maybe help with the understanding of the planet beneath our feet. One place it has entered not long ago is the study of quantum mechanics with the orbiting of electrons. It makes more sense when the electrons are counted not but where we once thought they were, but by the chaos that can be graphed without order as was done in prof. Jacobson's side show.