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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What refers to a computer program or network of computers that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system?
2. According to Gleick in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs," what will cause the idealized population to end up at the lower level?
3. Who is attributed with the following quote in Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature": "And yet relation appears, a small relation expanding like the shade of a cloud on sand, a shape on the side of the hill"?
4. When was Edward Lorenz born?
5. In statistics, what refers to any statistical relationship between two random variables or two sets of data?
Short Essay Questions
1. How did the role of chaos theory affect ecologists in the 1970s as described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?
2. What role do computers and mathematical equations play in ecology and biology as described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?
3. When and where was the National Meteorological Center founded in Chapter 1, "The Butterfly Effect"? What existed before it?
4. In Chapter 2, "Revolution" Gleick refers to the pendulum as being the laboratory mouse of chaos, the new science. What metaphorical examples does Gleick give for other great scientists in this chapter?
5. What psychological experiment does Thomas S. Kuhn describe in Chapter 2, "Revolution"?
6. How is James Yorke described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"? What term did he coin?
7. What led to Benoit Mandelbrot's epiphany in Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature"? Where was Benoit Mandelbrot working at the time?
8. How is the relationship between meteorologists and computers described in Chapter 1, "The Butterfly Effect"?
9. How did Lorenz develop ways to reproduce complex behavior in Chapter 1, "The Butterfly Effect"?
10. What did Benoit Mandelbrot and Hendrik Houthakker agree on about the chart in Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature"?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Discuss the computer development of the 1960s and the Royal McBee computer used by Edward Lorenz. What did Lorenz develop to aid in computer analysis?
Essay Topic 2
Describe Benoit Mandelbrot's work for International Business Machines Corporation. When was IBM founded and how was Mandelbrot involved in its evolution?
Essay Topic 3
Discuss the life and work of Thomas S. Kuhn and the scientific revolution he originated. What book did Kuhn publish and what was its impact on science?
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This section contains 930 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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