Textbook on chaos; class-tested, elementary but rigorous, with applications and lots of pictures and exercises.

BACKGROUND Sir Isaac Newton hrought to the world the idea of modeling the motion of physical systems with equations. It was necessary to invent calculus along the way, since fundamental equations of motion involve velocities and accelerations, of position. His greatest single success was his discovery that which are derivatives the motion of the planets and moons of the solar system resulted from a single fundamental source: the gravitational attraction of the hodies. He demonstrated that the ohserved motion of the planets could he explained hy assuming that there is a gravitational attraction he tween any two ohjects, a force that is proportional to the product of masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The circular, elliptical, and parabolic orhits of astronomy were v INTRODUCTION no longer fundamental determinants of motion, but were approximations of laws specified with differential equations. His methods are now used in modeling motion and change in all areas of science. Subsequent generations of scientists extended the method of using differ ential equations to describe how physical systems evolve. But the method had a limitation. While the differential equations were sufficient to determine the behavior-in the sense that solutions of the equations did exist-it was frequently difficult to figure out what that behavior would be. It was often impossible to write down solutions in relatively simple algebraic expressions using a finite number of terms. Series solutions involving infinite sums often would not converge beyond some finite time.

This book focuses on explaining the fundamentals of the physics and mathematics of chaotic phenomena by studying examples from one-dimensional maps and simple differential equations. It is helpful for postgraduate students and researchers in mathematics, physics and other areas of science.

This is a textbook on chaos and nonlinear dynamics, written by applied mathematicians for applied mathematicians. It aims to tread a middle ground between the mathematician's rigour and the physicist’s pragmatism. While the subject matter is now classical and can be found in many other books, what distinguishes this book is its philosophical approach, its breadth, its conciseness, and its exploration of intellectual byways, as well as its liberal and informative use of illustration. Written at the graduate student level, the book occasionally drifts from classical material to explore new avenues of thought, sometimes in the exercises. A key feature of the book is its holistic approach, encompassing the development of the subject since the time of Poincaré, and including detailed material on maps, homoclinic bifurcations, Hamiltonian systems, as well as more eclectic items such as Julia and Mandelbrot sets. Some of the more involved codes to produce the figures are described in the appendix. Based on lectures to upper undergraduates and beginning graduate students, this textbook is ideally suited for courses at this level and each chapter includes a set of exercises of varying levels of difficulty.

The study of nonlinear dynamical systems has exploded in the past 25 years, and Robert L. Devaney has made these advanced research developments accessible to undergraduate and graduate mathematics students as well as researchers in other disciplines with the introduction of this widely praised book. In this second edition of his best-selling text, Devaney includes new material on the orbit diagram fro maps of the interval and the Mandelbrot set, as well as striking color photos illustrating both Julia and Mandelbrot sets. This book assumes no prior acquaintance with advanced mathematical topics such as measure theory, topology, and differential geometry. Assuming only a knowledge of calculus, Devaney introduces many of the basic concepts of modern dynamical systems theory and leads the reader to the point of current research in several areas.

This introduction to applied nonlinear dynamics and chaos places emphasis on teaching the techniques and ideas that will enable students to take specific dynamical systems and obtain some quantitative information about their behavior. The new edition has been updated and extended throughout, and contains a detailed glossary of terms. From the reviews: "Will serve as one of the most eminent introductions to the geometric theory of dynamical systems." --Monatshefte für Mathematik

A timely, accessible introduction to the mathematics of chaos. The past three decades have seen dramatic developments in the theory of dynamical systems, particularly regarding the exploration of chaotic behavior. Complex patterns of even simple processes arising in biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, economics, and a host of other disciplines have been investigated, explained, and utilized. Introduction to Discrete Dynamical Systems and Chaos makes these exciting and important ideas accessible to students and scientists by assuming, as a background, only the standard undergraduate training in calculus and linear algebra. Chaos is introduced at the outset and is then incorporated as an integral part of the theory of discrete dynamical systems in one or more dimensions. Both phase space and parameter space analysis are developed with ample exercises, more than 100 figures, and important practical examples such as the dynamics of atmospheric changes and neural networks. An appendix provides readers with clear guidelines on how to use Mathematica to explore discrete dynamical systems numerically. Selected programs can also be downloaded from a Wiley ftp site (address in preface). Another appendix lists possible projects that can be assigned for classroom investigation. Based on the author's 1993 book, but boasting at least 60% new, revised, and updated material, the present Introduction to Discrete Dynamical Systems and Chaos is a unique and extremely useful resource for all scientists interested in this active and intensely studied field.