ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Smale–Williams attractor

The Smale-Williams Attractor is like a really cool shape that you can draw on paper. It's made up of a bunch of points (like dots) connected by lines. But unlike a normal drawing, this shape has some special properties that make it really interesting to people who study math.

When you draw the Smale-Williams Attractor, you start with just one little dot. Then, using some complicated math rules, you add more and more dots until you have this cool shape. But the shape isn't just a boring old drawing – it moves around in a really weird way.

Imagine if you had a ball and you dropped it on the Smale-Williams Attractor. Instead of just rolling down like it should, the ball would bounce around all over the place and end up in a different spot every time. This is because the shape has something called "chaos," which means that even tiny changes can have a big effect on what happens next.

The Smale-Williams Attractor is important because it helps mathematicians understand chaos and how it works. By studying this shape, they can learn more about how things change over time and how they can predict what will happen in the future. It's like having a really cool puzzle that helps you understand how the world works!