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| Time Series: A collection of measurements of the variable(s) of a system as it evolves over time. Traditionally, times series data were graphed with time on the x-axis and some system variable on the y-axis. For example, the time series of an oscillating (periodic) system like a forced pendulum or a metronome would show a curve of the speed of the pendulum bob going up and down like hills and valleys over time. However, as the result of dynamical systems theory, time series are now usually graphed in phase or state space with either two or more variables marking each dimension, or one variable is mapped against a time lagged version of the same variable. By graphing times series data in phase space, attractors can be identified more easily. Obviously our ability to graph such times series and ascertain attractors has been greatly accelerated by the rise of the personal computer. See: Attractor; Phase Space Bibliography: Guastello (1995); Peak and Frame (1994) A hypothetical "universal" computer envisioned by the great English mathematician and founder of modern computer languages, Alan Turing (who incidentally helped the British break the famous "Enigma Code" of the Germans during World War II.) Turing used this concept of a "universal computer" to prove that there were some mathematical problems which could not be solved by a "mechanical" procedure (or algorithm) generated on a computer, that is, there are certain well-defined mathematical problems which are not computable. See: Algorithm; Church-Turing Thesis Bibliography: Goertzel (1993); Penrose (1989); Sulis in Robertson and Combs (1995) The management/complexity theorist Brenda Zimmerman’s term for the kind of hard- hitting challenges to which managers need to subject their plans and organizing schemes. Wicked questions serve to dislodge self-fulfilling prophecies, open the ground for new experimental possibilities and increase information in a system, thereby facilitating far-from- equilibrium conditions and self-organization. See: Difference Questioning; Information; Purpose Contrasting Bibliography: Zimmerman (Complexity Aide in this volume) |
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