Mathematicians find 12,000 new solutions to ‘unsolvable’ 3-body problem::Calculating the way three things orbit each other is notoriously tricky, but a new study may reveal 12,000 new solutions.
Title is wrong. Unsolvable means no general closed form solution. That doesn’t mean that single constellations cannot be proven stable.
There is for example a trivial solution to the n-body problem. Arrange all bodies equidistant on a circle and have them move at the speed that keeps them on the circle.
frezik@midwest.social 1 year ago
This is one of those headlines that’s more obscuring than enlightening. We knew a bunch of ways that you could arrange three gravitational bodies and have them be in a stable orbit around each other. This adds 12,000 more. However, a general solution is still incredibly complicated, and the Trisolarans would still like to have a little chat with us in Australia some time.