Stochastic - Natural Science

Natural Science

An example of a stochastic process in the natural world is pressure in a gas as modeled by the Wiener process. Even though (classically speaking) each molecule is moving in a deterministic path, the motion of a collection of them is computationally and practically unpredictable. A large enough set of molecules will exhibit stochastic characteristics, such as filling the container, exerting equal pressure, diffusing along concentration gradients, etc. These are emergent properties of the systems.

Read more about this topic:  Stochastic

Famous quotes containing the words natural science, natural and/or science:

    Natural science will in time incorporate into itself the science of man, just as the science of man will incorporate into itself natural science: there will be one science.
    Karl Marx (1818–1883)

    The open frontier, the hardships of homesteading from scratch, the wealth of natural resources, the whole vast challenge of a continent waiting to be exploited, combined to produce a prevailing materialism and an American drive bent as much, if not more, on money, property, and power than was true of the Old World from which we had fled.
    Barbara Tuchman (1912–1989)

    The science of Humboldt is one thing, poetry is another thing. The poet to-day, notwithstanding all the discoveries of science, and the accumulated learning of mankind, enjoys no advantage over Homer.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)