Friday, May 15, 2009
My Thoughts on the book
I though this book was quite interesting at some parts, and then quite dry at other times. It was very interesting to learn about chaos and all the disorder around us. The book presented some concepts which I have never even thought of. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in science and learning about new ideas and concepts. The writing style flows well and is filled with numerous examples to explain complex ideas. It was difficult to read at times, but overall I feel much more knowledgeable about how different systems work and how disorder plays a part in nature. However, from learning this much more, I know that I know very little of what's out there in the world.
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Hey Michelle, it's Chris.
ReplyDeleteThe book you ended up with sure seems complicated. I remember you showing it to me on the bus, and I was pretty confused. From what you told us, though, I found some points to be pretty interesting (and some very hard to understand).
I like the point that students should be introduced to chaos in chapter 3. As was stated, some things simply cannot be modelled by an equation perfectly, and chaos should be taken into account. I'm used to following formulas in school, and it might take a while for my mind to get used to dealing with problems that involve factors that are essentially random (or have very fragile initial conditions). Chaos is a part of life, and we will probably have to deal with it.
I enjoyed how you pointed out examples of chaos in our everyday lives. Some were a lot more commonplace than I though chaos could be, like the structure of mountains, the roughness of terrain, and blood flow in the human body.
I also enjoyed what you had to say about Goethe. He had some interesting ideas, albeit less scientific ones. I agree that his ideas should have gotten more attention that they did.
(And wow. That Libchaber guy sure went through a lot of trouble to create a "chaotic" system.)
I'm kind of familiar with imaginary numbers and the Mandelbrot set, I saw a series of videos that touched on them a while ago. If you'd like to take a look at them, here they are:
http://www.dimensions-math.org/Dim_reg_AM.htm
Videos 5 and 6 deal with complex numbers (as well as fractals, I think). The Mandelbrot set is also talked about, and they even zoom in quite a bit into the image just to show you how intricate it really is.
The part about sleep I found especially interesting, how insomnia could be explained by an interruption of our normal temperature cycle.
I did find chapter 5 very confusing about the turbulence and attractors. If you have time, I'd like to hear more about it.
I'm also interested in the potential the understanding of chaos could have. If you have read anything, or have any ideas on the uses of chaos, I'd like to know.
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. It was quite an in depth view into chaos theory. I’m going to jump right in here but personally, I find it so daunting that people believe that chaos does not exist but rather everything actually has an order. I am not doubting that this may be true but it makes me wonder if we have the capabilities to explore such complicated mathematics. (If the answer is yes it just proves how little we as high school students truly know.)
Getting back to your blog, I found it quite interesting. As I was reading I thought it was interesting how you noted that Goethe was underappreciated. I would almost give him more credit because although Newton was able to understand what was actually happening, Goethe had the ability to look past the physical science and take a more philosophical approach. He raised the question of perception. In today’s society many people scoff at philosophy saying its garbage and useless in real life. Some of the greatest thinkers may have been logically smart but they also perceived the world very differently. Without a difference in perspective many of the world’s problems could not have been solved. Logic and perspective must have a balance. I agree with you on this one Michelle.
My book also talked about imaginary numbers but the author basically just revealed how they work and how they can be used to solve simple problems. Just a question for you Michelle. Did your book mention what that physical representation of Mandelbrot’s set could represent? What does this image provide insight into and what are its implications? I imagine that scientists don’t have a conclusive answer.
Overall, that was a good crash course in chaos theory. The blog was very well written. I was a little confused with the chapter which discussed strange attractors but even though, I congratulate you on being able to break down these complex concepts into simple terms. Good job!