Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe cover image

Why is the three-body problem so hard?

Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe

00:00

Having the Constraints Doesn't Tell You How to Find a Solution, Right?

The three body problem is only solvable in the newtunian case rate. If you have like three stars orbiting each other, then pretty quickly two of them will eject the third one out into the universe. There are not very many stable solutions to the three body problem. This different from, like, can human mathematicians write down a simple formula to predict what will happen? That's one question. Another question is, how long can three stars orbit each other before two of them kick out the other one?

Transcript
Play full episode

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
Get the app