资料来源 : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Lorenz attractor
     
         (After {Edward Lorenz}, its discoverer) A region
        in the {phase space} of the solution to certain systems of
        (non-linear) {differential equations}.  Under certain
        conditions, the motion of a particle described by such as
        system will neither converge to a steady state nor diverge to
        infinity, but will stay in a bounded but chaotically defined
        region.  By {chaotic}, we mean that the particle's location,
        while definitely in the attractor, might as well be randomly
        placed there.  That is, the particle appears to move randomly,
        and yet obeys a deeper order, since is never leaves the
        attractor.
     
        Lorenz modelled the location of a particle moving subject to
        atmospheric forces and obtained a certain system of {ordinary
        differential equations}.  When he solved the system
        numerically, he found that his particle moved wildly and
        apparently randomly.  After a while, though, he found that
        while the momentary behaviour of the particle was chaotic, the
        general pattern of an attractor appeared.  In his case, the
        pattern was the butterfly shaped attractor now known as the
        {Lorenz attractor}.
     
        (1996-01-13)