SYSTEM (Dynamic)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3354 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
A system “to which events occur, whose state changes over time” (R.L. ACKOFF, 1972).
ACKOFF also calls it “multi-state”.
It is difficult to conceive a system that would not be dynamic. Even very stable systems, like fossils, are merely the present, and of course not eternal result of a long physico-chemical transformation. The expression is thus somewhat tautological!
E. OTT and M. SPANO, who investigate the possibilities of controlling chaos, give a more elaborated definition of what they call a dynamical system: “One whose evolution is deterministic in the sense that its future is determined by its current state and past history” (1995, p.34).
This definition implicitely contains the possibility of chaotic behavior, because of the possible “exponential sensitivity” to initial conditions.