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A comment on Scientists find an effective solution for the three-body problem. Parent comment

Re:Scientists find an effective solution for the three-body ... by mannerheim on Saturday August 14, 2021 @09:03AM (#28180286)
You're taking it too literally. The 'nudge' means a change in initial conditions, and could result e.g. from measurement uncertainty, not necessarily a literal nudge.

It also doesn't necessarily matter that much if there are more than two bodies, if the gravitational influence of other bodies is small enough, then you can model as a two body problem.

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Re:Scientists find an effective solution for the three-body ... by mokus on Saturday August 14, 2021 @11:13AM (#28181265)
The “nudge” can also come up even with exact starting information. When you calculate the next step and round it to the nearest nanometer, you’ve just nudged the system by enough to eventually make your prediction worthless in the 3-body case.
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