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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where was Robert May born?
(a) Berlin, Germany.
(b) Sydney, Australia.
(c) Tokyo, Japan.
(d) Cairo, Egypt.

2. What does Gleick assert was the inspiration for Archimedes in Chapter 2, "Revolution"?
(a) A bathtub.
(b) A snail.
(c) A tree.
(d) A boulder.

3. What refers to a change in the basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science?
(a) Theoretical physics.
(b) Fractal basin boundaries.
(c) Paradigm shift.
(d) Gradient.

4. What work by Edward Lorenz greatly impacted the thinking of James Yorke, as described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?
(a) "Fractals Everywhere".
(b) "Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow".
(c) "Period Three Implies Chaos".
(d) "Physical Review Letters".

5. What is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language?
(a) Algorithm model.
(b) Mathematical model.
(c) Computer model.
(d) Fraction model.

Short Answer Questions

1. In mathematics and statistics, a _____ is a quantity that serves to relate functions and variables using a common variable when such a relationship would be difficult to explicate with an equation.

2. What studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions?

3. In Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs," Gleick writes, "In the emergence of chaos as a new science in the 1970s, _____ were destined to play a special role."

4. Where was Benoit Mandelbrot born?

5. When was Edward Lorenz born?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is quoted discussing nonlinear problems in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?

2. What was the early life of Benoit Mandelbrot like, as described by the author in Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature"?

3. How did the role of chaos theory affect ecologists in the 1970s as described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?

4. What did Benoit Mandelbrot and Hendrik Houthakker agree on about the chart in Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature"?

5. Describe the weather simulator discussed in Chapter 1, "The Butterfly Effect." What weather conditions did it create?

6. What role do computers and mathematical equations play in ecology and biology as described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?

7. How did Lorenz develop ways to reproduce complex behavior in Chapter 1, "The Butterfly Effect"?

8. In Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs," one of the biggest questions came to be how different parameters affected the ultimate destiny of a changing population. What was the answer to this?

9. What two technologies contributed to the development of global forecasting in Chapter 1, "The Butterfly Effect"?

10. What led to Benoit Mandelbrot's epiphany in Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature"? Where was Benoit Mandelbrot working at the time?

(see the answer keys)

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