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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 did Foucault use as a way to demonstrate the earth's rotation, according to the author in Chapter 2, "Revolution"?
2. Where is the main laboratory for the Thomas J. Watson Research Center?
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. What was the name of Edward Lorenz's 1963 paper in Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences?
5. Although James Yorke was a brilliant mathematician, he often referred to himself as what?
Short Essay Questions
1. How is a Cantor set described in Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature"?
2. 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?
3. Who is quoted discussing nonlinear problems in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?
4. How is James Yorke described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"? What term did he coin?
5. What role do computers and mathematical equations play in ecology and biology as described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?
6. How did Lorenz's work influence James Yorke in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?
7. 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?
8. How is Robert May described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"? What did his work center on?
9. When and where was the National Meteorological Center founded in Chapter 1, "The Butterfly Effect"? What existed before it?
10. How did the role of chaos theory affect ecologists in the 1970s as described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Describe the origins and history of the National Meteorological Center (now the National Weather Service) and the European Center for Medium Range Forecasts. Where is each headquartered and how has it developed in today's world?
Essay Topic 2
Compare and contrast the differences and similarities of theorists and experimenters. How does each rely on the other for progress to be made?
Essay Topic 3
Describe and discuss Edward Lorenz and his weather simulator at MIT. What effects did the weather simulator create? What led to the machine's breakdowns?
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This section contains 952 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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