3 ms·
You're taking it too literally. The 'nudge' means a change in initial conditions, and could result e.g. from measurement uncertainty, not necessarily a literal
by mannerheim 5y ago
You're taking it too literally. The 'nudge' means a change in initial conditions, and could result e.g. from measurement uncertainty, not necessarily a literal nudge.
It also doesn't necessarily matter that much if there are more than two bodies, if the gravitational influence of other bodies is small enough, then you can model as a two body problem.
- mokus 5y agoThe “nudge” can also come up even with exact starting information. When you calculate the next step and round it to the nearest nanometer, you’ve just nudged the system by enough to eventually make your prediction worthless in the 3-body case.