Things to do I. Read the following passage on the Catastrophe Theory downloaded from the Internet. Originated by the French mathematician, Rene Thom, in the 1960s, catastrophe theory is a special branch of dynamical systems theory. It studies and classifies phenomena characterised by sudden shifts in behaviour arising from small changes in circumstances.
Catastrophes are bifurcations between different equilibria, or fixed point attractors. Due to their restricted nature, catastrophes can be classified on the basis of how many control parameters are being simultaneously varied. For example, if there are two controls, then one finds the most common type, called a ‘cusp’ catastrophe. If, however, there are more than five controls, there is no classification.
Catastrophe theory has been applied to a number of different phenomena, such as the stability of ships at sea and their capsizing, bridge collapse, and, with some less convincing success, the fight-or-flight behaviour of animals and prison riots. II. Look up the Internet or an encyclopedia for information on the following theories. Quantum theory Theory of relativity Big Bang theory Theory of evolution Understanding the text True/false items to check inferential comprehension Explaining statements from the text Talking about the text Discussing approaches of various disciplines to knowledge inquiry (across the curriculum) Cross-text reference Thinking about language Inter-community communication through common languages Reference to languages of different disciplines Political domination and language imposition (discuss) Working with words Idiomatic expressions Distinction between frequently misused word forms: respectively/ respectfully Noticing form Conditional sentences for unreal and hypothetical conditions Things to do Finding out about popular scientific theories (real-life reading)