Close-up of butterfly on flower, flapping wings square sticker

AssetID: dexph035_007a / Kenzo Ohya / Close-up of butterfly on flower, flapping wings In chaos theory , the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions ; where a small change at one place in a nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state. The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz , is derived from the theoretical example of a hurricane's formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks before. Although the butterfly effect may appear to be an esoteric and unusual behavior, it is exhibited by very simple systems: for example, a ball placed at the crest of a hill might roll into any of several valleys depending on slight differences in initial position. The butterfly effect is a common trope in fiction when presenting scenarios involving time travel and with "what if" cases where one storyline diverges at the moment of a seemingly minor event resulting in two significantly different outcomes. This page is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, anyone associated with the topic.