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LORENZ ATTRACTOR [1 record]

Record 1 1994-02-08

English

Subject field(s)
  • Mathematics
  • Computer Graphics
CONT

The Lorenz attractor. This magical image, resembling an owl's mask or butterfly's wings, became en emblem for the early explorers of chaos. It revealed the fine structure hidden within a disorderly stream of data. Traditionally, the changing values of any one variable could be displayed in a so-called time series. To show the changing relationships among three variables required a different technique. At any instant in time, the three variables fix the location of a point in three-dimensional space; as the system changes, the motion of the point represents the continuously changing variables. Because the system never exactly repeats itself, the trajectory never intersects itself. Instead it loops around and around forever.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Mathématiques
  • Infographie
DEF

Attracteur étrange dont la forme en double spirale tridimensionnelle évoque les yeux de la chouette ou les ailes du papillon. Sa trajectoire autoévitante se calcule à l'aide de trois équations différentielles à trois variables fixant la position de chacun de ses points dans le temps et dans l'espace.

OBS

Découvert en 1963 par Edward Lorenz (MIT), l'effet papillon modélise l'évolution d'un système turbulent - la circulation de l'air atmosphérique provoquée par convection thermique - et confirme l'importance des conditions initiales dans le calcul des prévisions météorologiques. Ne pas confondre avec le nom du mathématicien hollandais Hendrik A. Lorentz.

Spanish

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