The concept of bifurcating (splitting) timelines is complicated in Strange Attractors.

One of Sleator's tasks is to explain this idea in quantum mechanics so that his audience understands how the bifurcations complicate the plot. In doing so, he has choices to make. First, he needs to decide who his intended audience is. If his audience consists only of high school science geniuses, he can probably get away with using many technical words; this would help him avoid his narrative getting bogged down by longwinded explanations. But Sleator seems to have chosen a broader audience, one that could be attracted to the great adventure in Strange Attractors without knowing much about physics. This leaves him to decide what needs to be explained and what does not. Everything that has to do with his characters' motivations and with the perilous situations in which they are found needs explanation...