On Thu, 25 Apr 2002, Ken Brown wrote:
> One of the classic examples of what is now called "chaos" (a word that I
> don't like in this context). The exact trajectory taken by simple models
Uhuh...
> of predator-prey systems is often very sensitively dependent on initial
> conditions. Of course in real life these things are stochastic anyway
Then I take it you don't like 'stochastic' since they really mean the same
thing in this context. At least one of the variables in the system -must-
be modeled as some sort of (P)RNG.
False distinction (see hand waving below)
> so the variables in your model should actually be probability
> distributions, which makes the sums much harder and leads to
> considerable handwaving.
unpredictabilty <> hand waving.
--
____________________________________________________________________
The law is applied philosophy and a philosphical system is
only as valid as its first principles.
James Patrick Kelly - "Wildlife"
[EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ssz.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED] www.open-forge.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------