by rerevisionist » 15 Jan 2012 01:34
@Pan Pravda - Well, it's your choice not to answer, as of course I expected.
Just a note on Newtonian gravity and the solar system. I think you're definitely wrong about that theory predicting chaotic motion in the solar system. The Sun is so dominating that the planets are easily kept in their orbits. The gravitational attraction between planets is low, because of the distances. In fact the position of Neptune was supposedly predicted by the perturbation of Uranus' orbit caused by a then-unknown planet. There were many calculations made of orbits (including meteors and comets, and satellites) from Kepler onwards which are consistent with the gravitational idea. Gauss for example has some very skilful material. Littlewood's Mathematician's Miscellany which is pretty much pre-computer has typical sophisticated calculations. The 3 body problem is not soluble, or supposedly not soluble, by normal algebra and calculus, but that doesn't mean it's 'chaotic'. It can be solved in effect in small steps, as with finite element analysis.