In mathematics, the Lyapunov time is the characteristic timescale on which a dynamical system is chaotic.
It is defined as the inverse of a system's largest Lyapunov exponent.
[1] The Lyapunov time mirrors the limits of the predictability of the system.
By convention, it is defined as the time for the distance between nearby trajectories of the system to increase by a factor of e. However, measures in terms of 2-foldings and 10-foldings are sometimes found, since they correspond to the loss of one bit of information or one digit of precision respectively.
However, empirical estimation of the Lyapunov time is often associated with computational or inherent uncertainties.