Does chaos means long term numerical simulations useless?

[wdlang]

i am now reading a prl paper

the authors used numerical simulations to study a nonlinear system

in some parameters, the authors state that system enters into chaos

My numerical simulations are the same as that of the authors in the regular regime

but in the chaos regime, my simulations are quite different from theirs.

I guess in the chaos regime, numerical simulations are useless

Due to numerical errors, the simulation results in the long term are not valid at all.

 

[trambolin]

That is why the weather forecast is only for 1.5-2 days. Read Steven Strogatz about chaos, it is a beautiful book.

 

[arildno]

1. Note that chaotic behaviour may well be intrinsic to the differential equations as such, and thus, not merely an artefact of either the discretization scheme or the finite arithmetic a computer employs.

 

[wdlang]

1. Note that chaotic behaviour may well be intrinsic to the differential equations as such, and thus, not merely an artefact of either the discretization scheme or the finite arithmetic a computer employs.

yes, you are right

but if the chaotic behavior is intrinsic, how can we study it via computer?

our simulations may be absolutely wrong due to the tiny numerical errors.

But somebody is doing so in their PRL papers!