Definition: The study of systems which respond disproportionately (nonlinearly) to initial conditions or perturbing stimuli. Nonlinear systems may exhibit "chaos" which is classically characterized as sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Chaotic systems, while distinguished from more ordered periodic systems, are not random. When their behavior over time is appropriately displayed (in "phase space"), constraints are evident which are described by "strange attractors". Phase space representations of chaotic systems, or strange attractors, usually reveal fractal (FRACTALS) self-similarity across time scales. Natural, including biological, systems often display nonlinear dynamics and chaos.
a math principle applied to theoret models
See AlsoFractals
Other names Models, Non-linear; Model, Nonlinear; Model, Non-linear; Dynamics, Nonlinear; Dynamics, Non-linear; Chaos Theories; Non-linear Models; Non-linear Dynamics; Models, Nonlinear; Chaos Theory; Theory, Chaos; Theories, Chaos; Nonlinear Models; Nonlinear Model; Nonlinear Dynamic; Non-linear Model; Non-linear Dynamic; Non linear Models; Non linear Dynamics
