transcription, транскрипция: [ ˈkeɪɔs ]
noun (Science and Technology) A state of apparent randomness and unpredictability which can be observed in the physical world or in any dynamic system that is highly sensitive to small changes in external conditions; the area of mathematics and physics in which this is studied (also called chaos theory or chaology). Etymology: A specialized use of the figurative sense of chaos, 'utter confusion and disorder' (a sense which itself goes back to the seventeenth century). Although actually determined by tiny changes in conditions which have large consequences, the processes which scientists call chaos appear at first sight to be random, utterly confused, and disordered. History and Usage: The serious study of chaos began in the late sixties, but it was only in the mid seventies that mathematicians started to call this state chaos and not until the mid eighties that the study of these phenomena came to be called chaos theory. It is relevant to any system in which a very small change in initial conditions can make a significant difference to the outcome; a humorous example often quoted is the butterfly effect in weather systems--these systems being so sensitive to initial conditions that it is said that whether or not a butterfly flaps its wings on one side of the world could determine whether or not a tornado occurs on the other side. By the beginning of the nineties the study of chaotic systems had already proved to offer important insights to all areas of science--and indeed to our understanding of social processes--partly because it views systems as dynamic and developing rather than looking only at a static problem. A person who studies chaos is a chaologist, chaos theorist, or chaoticist. When the explorers of chaos began to think back on the genealogy of their new science, they found many intellectual trails from the past...A starting point was the Butterfly Effect. James Gleick Chaos: Making a New Science (1988), p. 8 Chaos theory presents a Universe that is deterministic, obeying fundamental physical laws, but with a predisposition for disorder, complexity and unpredictability. New Scientist 21 Oct. 1989, p. 24 One of the tasks facing students of complex chaotic systems...is to investigate fully the range of predictability in each case. The Times 9 Aug. 1990, p. 13