2

Why is it that we humans can't solve the three-body-problem? (calculate the positions of the 3 bodies in a dynamical system)

And why can computers do it?

My thoughts:

Computers do it in way smaller steps then us humans, and if we tried to replicate what the computer does, it would take ages.

stafusa
  • 12,435
HeeysamH
  • 603
  • 4
    anything that computers do is done because a human has written out how to solve the problem in a bunch of tiny steps. The computer merely steps through those steps. – Zo the Relativist Jan 25 '19 at 21:51
  • Related: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/1235/2451 and links therein. – Qmechanic Jan 25 '19 at 22:00
  • There has been recent discovery of new classes of solutions: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/03/physicists-discover-whopping-13-new-solutions-three-body-problem – JEB Jan 26 '19 at 00:21

1 Answers1

7

Computers can't.

You're right that they perform numerical integration way faster than we can, but, slower or faster, it's believed that neither people nor computers can solve the three-body problem. At least not in the sense of finding a closed-form, analytical solution.

These small-step calculations computers do produce only approximations to the solutions.

It's worth pointing out again, though, that the three-body problem is expected to be non-integrable. There's no proof yet.

stafusa
  • 12,435