In Science
Jack Cohen (scientist) and Ian Stewart authors of the book The Collapse of Chaos (1995), a non-fiction book that attempts to explain chaos theory and complex systems to the general public.
The complexity of algorithms and of mathematical problems is one of the central subjects of theoretical computer science. Simplexity was whimsically defined by computer scientists Broder and Stolfi as a concept worthy of as much attention as complexity:
"The simplexity of a problem is the maximum inefficiency among the reluctant algorithms that solve P . An algorithm is said to be pessimal for a problem P if the best-cast inefficiency of A is asymptotically equal to the simplexity of P"
The concept of Simplexity was amplified in the mid 1970's by Bruce Schiff and restated as "The process by which nature strives towards simple ends by complex means. The result of a simple random act can only be predicted by complicated means. The spatial placement of each atom in a transplanted plant root ball is difficult to predict, but, the plant will adapt it's root ball to the hole, and continue to thrive. This conceptual expression harkens back to original statements of Newton, "Nature is pleased with simplicity", Dalton, "rule of greatest simplicity, and "Einstein, "Nature is the realization of the simplest conceivable mathematical ideas".
Read more about this topic: Simplexity, History of The Term
Famous quotes containing the word science:
“The science of Humboldt is one thing, poetry is another thing. The poet to-day, notwithstanding all the discoveries of science, and the accumulated learning of mankind, enjoys no advantage over Homer.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When science drove the gods out of nature, they took refuge in poetry and the porticos of civic buildings.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)