This is also one of the "big ideas" in the book _Eifelheim_, under the name "cliometrics". SPOILERS (just little ones, but still) Essentially, a historical vi

This is also one of the "big ideas" in the book _Eifelheim_, under the name "cliometrics". SPOILERS (just little ones, but still) Essentially, a historical visitation by aliens is revealed due to the failure of a certain group of people to fit the mathematical model of what their history should have been- the arrival of aliens was not considered as a factor in the theory.