Butterfly effect - Chaos Theory?

Question

Is the butterfly effect, and the chaos theory the same thing? They were both founded by Edward Norton Lorenz, that's all I know of at the moment. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Yes its the same.

They are both the theory that tiny changes in initial circumstances can have far reaching consequences.  

Answer 2

The "Butterfly Effect" is an example of Chaos Theory - one seemingly insignificant occurrence having a mass-scale effect.

Answer 3

"Chaos theory" is part of the larger field of nonlinear dynamics.

One of the properties of chaos is sensitivity to initial conditions. This is due to a positive Lyapunov exponent, a figure that characterises chaotic attractors. What this means is that any slight perturbation will grow exponentially until it dominates the system's behaviour. This is commonly known as the "butterfly effect".

Ed Lorenz was indeed the discoverer of chaos. He discovered it by noticing the effect of a small perturbation on his computer simulations.

Lorenz's "butterfly attractor" is so called because it looks a bit like a butterfly when plotted out. But the butterfly connection is coincidental, as far as I know. Maybe Lorenz just liked butterflies. :-)