In science, chaos theory is the mathematical study of systems that display non-periodic, irregular, unpredictable, or chaotic behaviors. [1] Chaos theory is sometimes considered as synonymous with complexity theory. Chaos theory, however, is a subject that emerged in the 1970s, with the development of computers, centered in larger part on doing computer simulations, of iteration formulas, with various initial conditions.

Thermodynamics
Chaos theory sometimes is found intertwined together, in an ill-contrived way, with discussions of time and the second law of thermodynamics. This loosely traces to Belgian chemist Ilya Prigogine’s work, as captured in his 1984 book Order Out of Chaos, and his theories of bifurcations and fluctuations. [2] In 1996, Australian philosopher Huw Price tells us, for instance: [3]

“In recent years it has often been suggested that the key to the apparent conflict between thermodynamics and mechanics lies in chaos theory, and the application of the nonlinear methods in physics … this view is particularly associated with the Brussels School, led by theoretical chemist Ilya Prigogine.”

Another popularized, albeit very nonsensical, connection between the second law and chaos theory was made by American author James Gleick in his 1987 national best-seller Chaos: Making a New Science, in which he cites Claude Shannon as being the general purveyor of thermodynamics and entropy, which of course is incorrect. [4] All-in-all, chaos theory has little connection to thermodynamics, except where found in fringe publications.

See also
● Boltzmann chaos assumption

References
1. Clark, John. (2004). The Essential Dictionary of Science. Barnes and Noble.
2. Sardar, Ziauddin, and Abrams, Iwona. (1998). Introducing Chaos. Totem Books.
3. Price, Huw. (1996). Time’s Arrow and Archimedes’ Point (pg. 43). Oxford University Press.
4. Gleick, James. (1987). Chaos: Making a New Science (second law of thermodynamics, pgs. 257-58, 307-08). Penguin.

External links
● Chaos theory – Wikipedia.