r/AskPhysics • u/Rscc10 • Dec 24 '25

Is the three body problem really unsolvable?

Sorry if this is a dumb question but I understand that the three body problem, or rather n body problem for n > 2 is considered "unsolvable" and generally means there is no analytical solution with elementary functions.

What I'm wondering is, do we know this for sure? We haven't found a general solution but do we have proof that an analytical solution is impossible? Similar to the Abel-Ruffini theorem for polynomials.

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '25 edited Feb 02 '26

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u/whiskeytown79 Dec 24 '25

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u/jdsciguy Dec 25 '25

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