How to Use chaos theory in a Sentence

chaos theory

noun
  • That’s what chaos theory guy (Jeff Goldblum) seems to promise in the trailer.
    Gary Thompson, Philly.com, 20 June 2018
  • At least, that’s the idea in the mathematical world of chaos theory.
    Matt Simon, Wired, 25 Jan. 2021
  • But that’s about where the chaos theory ended in this NCAA tournament.
    Greg Bishop, SI.com, 25 Mar. 2018
  • The flap of a butterfly's wings can cause a typhoon half the world away, at least according to popular versions of the idea known as chaos theory.
    WSJ, 9 Aug. 2023
  • The challenge Yanagihara sets for the reader isn’t so much to decode a puzzle as to survive a plunge into chaos theory.
    Jordan Kisner, The Atlantic, 21 Dec. 2021
  • Your inner Stoppard gong should ring at that; this is the playwright who taught us chaos theory and probability.
    Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2022
  • But from that starting point, the ball could be passed to just about any warm body in either uniform in any number of sequences - chaos theory come to life in the form of two worn-down but talented pitching staffs.
    Author: Dave Sheinin, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Oct. 2019
  • His chaos theory of White House management, on morbid public display this week, also means no one on Capitol Hill knows who is in charge.
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 28 July 2017
  • And it is rescued not by quantum mechanics, as some physicists argue, but by chaos theory.
    Keith Kloor, Discover Magazine, 19 Jan. 2013
  • The drawing corner includes four pages covered in blue-ink sketches by Otto Rössler, a German biochemist who works on chaos theory.
    Marissa Fessenden, Scientific American, 21 Dec. 2012
  • Ironically, Al Gore was a big devotee of chaos theory and his defeat is an illustration of that idea.
    Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2022
  • Well, in chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the phenomenon where a small change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere.
    Noelle Devoe, Seventeen, 9 Feb. 2018
  • About a decade later, chaos theory started to catch on in scientific circles.
    Joshua Sokol, WIRED, 26 May 2019
  • Like his genius, in the lively show-and-tell (which even science-phobes can grasp) probing of the theory of relativity in relation to quantum physics and chaos theory.
    Misha Berson, The Seattle Times, 26 Sep. 2017
  • The technique works so well, in fact, that Ott and some of the other Maryland researchers now intend to use chaos theory as a way to better understand the internal machinations of neural networks.
    Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, 21 Apr. 2018
  • That was perfectly obvious long before the advent of chaos theory.
    Sean Carroll, Discover Magazine, 5 Dec. 2011
  • Fans all over social media have made the connection between the butterfly effect and Stormi’s name, pointing out chaos theory in the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings can create a storm somewhere far away.
    Jen Juneau, PEOPLE.com, 17 Apr. 2018
  • Precisely when and where these 5-mile-wide thermals of warm buoyant air will bubble up is chaos theory, beyond the ability of even high-resolution weather models to discern.
    Paul Douglas, Star Tribune, 7 Apr. 2021
  • Fans’ keen observations connected the butterfly motifs and Stormi’s name, pointing out chaos theory in the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings can create a storm somewhere far away.
    Karen Mizoguchi, PEOPLE.com, 9 Feb. 2018
  • The Changing Value of Computation Today, chaos theory is part of the scientific repertoire.
    Joshua Sokol, WIRED, 26 May 2019
  • The scientists were surprised by the results, and the experiment gave birth to the field of nonlinear science, which includes a wide array of scientific and mathematical areas of study, such as chaos theory.
    Virginia Grant, Scientific American, 29 Sep. 2021
  • In his scholarly work, Dr. Katok ventured into areas that embraced some of the most intriguing aspects of modern mathematics, including what has been called chaos theory.
    Martin Weil, Washington Post, 9 May 2018
  • Successful organizations are usually not built on the chaos theory and an unclear line of authority.
    John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2020
  • The roots of today's chaos theory rest on a serendipitous discovery in the 1960s by mathematician-turned-meteorologist Edward Lorenz.
    Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 24 Jan. 2023
  • The butterfly effect, an appendage of chaos theory, suggests that a minor change in circumstances can lead to unpredictable, untrackable significant outcomes.
    Prem Thakker, The New Republic, 1 Feb. 2023
  • More than many other abstruse areas of higher mathematics, chaos theory has captured the public imagination.
    Martin Weil, BostonGlobe.com, 14 July 2019
  • Tricksters illustrate the capriciousness of nature, or perhaps even embrace chaos theory, which asserts that chaos and order are not necessarily in opposition.
    James Deutsch, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 June 2021
  • The question vexed even one of the foremost mathematical minds of the 20th century, and even served as partial inspiration for a mathematical concept that's been applied everywhere from architecture to chaos theory.
    Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 17 Apr. 2018
  • The President is taking his political chaos theory beyond America's borders and racking up wins for his faithful political base.
    Stephen Collinson, CNN, 11 May 2018
  • Edward Lorenz - Advanced the concept of modern chaos theory and important groundwork for modern numerical weather prediction.
    Marshall Shepherd, Forbes, 6 Oct. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chaos theory.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: