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Physicists crack unsolvable three-body problem using drunkard's walk ... It has plagued scientists since the days of Isaac Newton.
https://www.livescience.com ^ | January 4, 2022 | By Ashley Hamer

Posted on 01/04/2022 12:20:44 PM PST by Red Badger

A physics problem that has plagued science since the days of Isaac Newton is closer to being solved, say a pair of Israeli researchers. The duo used "the drunkard's walk" to calculate the outcome of a cosmic dance between three massive objects, or the so-called three-body problem.

For physicists, predicting the motion of two massive objects, like a pair of stars, is a piece of cake. But when a third object enters the picture, the problem becomes unsolvable. That's because when two massive objects get close to each other, their gravitational attraction influences the paths they take in a way that can be described by a simple mathematical formula. But adding a third object isn't so simple: Suddenly, the interactions between the three objects become chaotic. Instead of following a predictable path defined by a mathematical formula, the behavior of the three objects becomes sensitive to what scientists call "initial conditions" — that is, whatever speed and position they were in previously. Any slight difference in those initial conditions changes their future behavior drastically, and because there's always some uncertainty in what we know about those conditions, their behavior is impossible to calculate far out into the future. In one scenario, two of the objects might orbit each other closely while the third is flung into a wide orbit; in another, the third object might be ejected from the other two, never to return, and so on.

CLOSE In a paper published in the journal Physical Review X, scientists used the frustrating unpredictability of the three-body problem to their advantage.

"[The three-body problem] depends very, very sensitively on initial conditions, so essentially it means that the outcome is basically random," said Yonadav Barry Ginat, a doctoral student at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology who co-authored the paper

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Computers/Internet; History; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; bidenswalk; catastrophism; gravity; isaacnewton; mathematics; nbodyproblem; physics; science; spirograph; stringtheory; threebodyproblem; xplanets
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To: Red Badger

I thought this post was about me for a minute.


41 posted on 01/04/2022 1:35:43 PM PST by occamrzr06
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To: Red Badger
Meh. My cat solved this problem five years ago. But because she doesn’t have a fancy PhD degree she couldn’t get her paper published.


42 posted on 01/04/2022 1:38:07 PM PST by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: Da Coyote

On my first day of college Physics, the Professor came in and asked for a show of hands of how many people in the class were going to continue their education in the field of Physics. Nobody raised their hands. He said since that was the case, he didn’t see the point in teaching us calculus-based physics and so he taught everything using algebra-based physics.

The best part was I had just aced a year of algebra-based physics for my Tech degree, so I got another year of the same for my accredited Bachelors degree.


43 posted on 01/04/2022 1:40:04 PM PST by shotgun
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To: Hebrews 11:6

“At this point they seem satisfied with probability rather than certainty. Seems inadequate, still.”

We live our life based on probabilities.


44 posted on 01/04/2022 1:45:35 PM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: Red Badger

I thought that problem was already solved by the “Weebles and Wabble” equation of 1989.

5.56mm


45 posted on 01/04/2022 1:48:23 PM PST by M Kehoe (Quid Pro Joe and the Ho need to go.)
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To: Red Badger

The clue was there all along:

If a body meets a body meets a body, comin’ through the rye.


46 posted on 01/04/2022 1:49:45 PM PST by P.O.E.
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To: TexasGator
We live our life based on probabilities.

Not me. I am certain I'll enjoy Jesus eternally. I'm now in the Waiting Room....

47 posted on 01/04/2022 1:57:28 PM PST by Hebrews 11:6 (Watch "THE CHOSEN," about Jesus & the disciples He chose: https://watch.angelstudios.com/thechosen)
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To: shotgun

“On my first day of college Physics, the Professor came in and asked for a show of hands of how many people in the class were going to continue their education in the field of Physics. Nobody raised their hands. He said since that was the case, he didn’t see the point in teaching us calculus-based physics and so he taught everything using algebra-based physics.

Why were you even in that class? It is only required for those pursuing advanced curriculums requiring the use of calculus.


48 posted on 01/04/2022 1:59:05 PM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: TexasGator

I was pursuing my Civil Engineering Degree


49 posted on 01/04/2022 2:00:40 PM PST by shotgun
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To: shotgun

“On my first day of college Physics, the Professor came in and asked for a show of hands of how many people in the class were going to continue their education in the field of Physics. Nobody raised their hands. He said since that was the case, he didn’t see the point in teaching us calculus-based physics and so he taught everything using algebra-based physics.”

Makes no sense. Why would he even ask if it was an advance physics class.

No non-physics or non-engineering major is going to sign up, much less a whole class.


50 posted on 01/04/2022 2:05:31 PM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: Waverunner
Its actually due to the capabilities of the process used to create the object defined by the print/CAD model etc. As another poster stated, manufacturing tolerances.

General rule of thumb is that tighter tolerances/specifications incur higher costs to manufacture.

51 posted on 01/04/2022 2:19:50 PM PST by Tench_Coxe
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To: TexasGator; Red Badger
> “I remember my calculus professor telling us on the first day of class, back in the stone age, This is a class where you will never get the right answer..............”

>> I don’t understand why he would say that.

Because, it was the "B" class or section of calculus. Most of the kids in that group don't really "get it" for long, if at all. They're tourists.

52 posted on 01/04/2022 2:25:17 PM PST by Pearls Before Swine (FJB/LGB (Let's Go, Brandon!))
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To: Red Badger

The French mathematician Vercingetorix solved this problem just before Julius Caesar invaded Gaul.
Menage’ a trois

Whereby one body (A) of the 3 bodies can only occupy one
body (B) at the same time the third body (C) is orbiting
the second body (B) ...Re-entry may be facilitated by
body (A) only if body (B) and body (C) remain
in synchronous orbits. Asynchronicity may occur at any
time body (A) separates from body (B) and enters the
gravitational field of body (C), thus causing immediate
collision of bodies (A) and (C). Such collisions may result
in spawning of new bodies, though only 1/4 mass of one of
the bodies (A), (B), or (C).


53 posted on 01/04/2022 2:34:35 PM PST by bunkerhill7 (That`s 464 people per square foot! Is this corrrect..it was NYC.)
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To: dfwgator

If one of the bodies is mine and the other two are attractive nubile females I’d have no difficulty solving this problem.

It would take repeated efforts and long term study, of course.

L


54 posted on 01/04/2022 2:37:42 PM PST by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. )
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To: Lurker

“If one of the bodies is mine and the other two are attractive nubile females I’d have no difficulty solving this problem.”

It’s a three body problem and you don’t know what their initial conditions are.


55 posted on 01/04/2022 2:41:47 PM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: WeaslesRippedMyFlesh
I got flung once as described here. ...out of a mosh pit.

I've only ever been in a mosh pit once. I'm a big guy and I was taking it kind of easy on people despite my drunkenness, until some sumbitch slammed me from behind and damn near put me in the dirt. After that, I was a ruthless killdozer. Ah youth.
56 posted on 01/04/2022 2:47:50 PM PST by fr_freak
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To: TexasGator

It was 3 semesters of 200 level classes for engineers, also known as a “weed out” course.

However the Professor determined that it was more important to teach at the practical level and not the theoretical level. The physics doesn’t change and instead of teaching how to use the calculus equation and derive them down to their algebraic form, it was more important to him that we understood physics.


57 posted on 01/04/2022 5:52:32 PM PST by shotgun
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To: shotgun

“The physics doesn’t change and instead of teaching how to use the calculus equation and derive them down to their algebraic form, it was more important to him that we understood physics.”

A lot of physics cannot be understood or modeled without calculus. Basic calculations require calculus.

I can’t believe this ‘professor’.


58 posted on 01/04/2022 6:16:30 PM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: WeaslesRippedMyFlesh

This exactly describes me and my friends in mosh pits too.


59 posted on 01/04/2022 6:45:53 PM PST by lefty-lie-spy (Stay Metal)
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To: TexasGator

“and you don’t know what their initial conditions are.”

You leave that to me, my friend.

LOL

L


60 posted on 01/04/2022 9:42:41 PM PST by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. )
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