Is there a technical difference between the terms "autocatalysis" and "chain reaction"? They both seem to refer to something very similar, namely sequences of reactions in which one of the intermediates is also one of the products, leading to the possibility of exponential growth. Is one of the terms more specific than the other, or are they generally understood to mean the same thing?

There do seem to be some differences in how the terms are used. I've never seen the formose cycle, for example, referred to as a chain reaction, which does seem to imply that the term "chain reaction" means something more specific. If this is the case, what is the defining difference between the two terms?

Is there a technical difference between the terms "autocatalysis" and "branching chain reaction"? They both seem to refer to something very similar, namely sequences of reactions in which one of the intermediates is also one of the products, leading to the possibility of exponential growth. Is one of the terms more specific than the other, or are they generally understood to mean the same thing?

There do seem to be some differences in how the terms are used. I've never seen the formose cycle, for example, referred to as a chain reaction, which does seem to imply that the term "chain reaction" means something more specific. If this is the case, what is the defining difference between the two terms?

Here is a diagram of the formose cycle (from the German Wikipedia entry, because it has a much better diagram than the English one) - is there a specific reason why it would not be referred to as a chain reaction?