From: Rob Harris Cen-IT (Rob.Harris@bournemouth.gov.uk)
Date: Fri Jul 16 1999 - 03:01:33 MDT
> [Good quick summary of uncertainty with a quick brush of entropy]
> > So the precise initial conditions needed to make a prediction cannot be
> > obtained, given the uncertainty principle.
>
> The sensitivity of a system to initial conditions is expressed by the
> Lyapunov exponent. You can look at it (backwards) as a way of saying how
> finely you have to measure initial conditions to predict the state of the
> system at some future time. Even in "simple" systems like a driven
> pendulum,
> the divergence can be dramatic, and you can say that there is a time
> horizon
> T beyond which you would have needed subatomic precision at time 0 to
> predict
> the state of motion.
>
> Basically, we're not living in Euclidean space...
>
I fully understand this, cheers.....but, as I said to Ron Kean, my problem
was with the whole idea of a universally applicable uncertainty threshold,
which (I perceived) was presented as unbreakable - no matter what
measurement and tracking technology (even subatomic) was implemented.
Rob.
P.S. Euclidean Space ?
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