「差之毫釐，謬以千里」— 淺談蝴蝶效應
第三屆香港科學節 公開講座
香港科學館演講廳 2016年3月19日 正午12時
How the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings Affects Us?
HK SciFest 2016 Public Lecture
Hong Kong Science Museum Auditorium, March 19, 2016, 12 noon

“Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?” This was the title of a talk delivered in 1972 by the late MIT Professor, Edward Lorenz, who first observed the apparently never-repeating pattern arising from his simplified weather model. A small change in a parameter of his model would make a huge difference in the pattern that it generates! In fact this is precisely what we see and experience every day and in a lot of situations. A small difference would cascade to a series of alterations of events that eventually cause big variations in the outcome. These phenomena are now termed “chaos”, which has been a subject of intense scientific study since 1960s. Weather forecast, coin tossing, drawing numbers from the Mark Six machine, even catching your flight tonight, are chaotic! This talk takes audience for a quick tour of the chaotic world in which we live and the scientific principle behind this fascinating yet common kind of orders or disorders.