Abstract

The purpose of this talk is to give a “pure” mathematicians perspective on the meaning of “chaos” and “(un)predictability” in dynamical systems, including systems of ODE’s such as the Lorenz equations. I will give a brief historical review of the notion of chaos, discuss the difference between “short term unpredictability” and “long term statistical predictability”, and finally work through a simple mathematical example in which this difference is very clear.