Given the ease with which computers can do iteration it is now possible for almost anyone to generate beautiful images whose roots lie in discrete dynamical systems. Images of Mandelbrot and Julia sets abound in publications both mathematical and not. The mathematics behind the pictures are beautiful in their own right and are the subject of this text. Mathematica programs that illustrate the dynamics are included in an appendix.

An introduction to both topics in dynamical systems and mathematical thinking. In particular, the authors emphasize those parts of mathematical analysis necessary for understanding the intricacies of a discrete dynamical system. The organizing principle is the understanding of the parametrized family of functions h(x) = rx(1-x). Readers should have some background in calculus although extensive knowledge of proof-based mathematics is not necessary. Students will learn to understand periodic points, stable sets, bifurcations, symbolic dynamics, and chaos. The book includes rigorous proofs of important concepts in dynamics while remaining accessible to the typical advanced undergraduate.

Discovering Discrete Dynamical Systems is a mathematics textbook designed for use in a student-led, inquiry-based course for advanced mathematics majors. Fourteen modules each with an opening exploration, a short exposition and related exercises, and a concluding project guide students to self-discovery on topics such as fixed points and their classifications, chaos and fractals, Julia and Mandelbrot sets in the complex plane, and symbolic dynamics. Topics have been carefully chosen as a means for developing student persistence and skill in exploration, conjecture, and generalization while at the same time providing a coherent introduction to the fundamentals of discrete dynamical systems. This book is written for undergraduate students with the prerequisites for a first analysis course, and it can easily be used by any faculty member in a mathematics department, regardless of area of expertise. Each module starts with an exploration in which the students are asked an open-ended question. This allows the students to make discoveries which lead them to formulate the questions that will be addressed in the exposition and exercises of the module. The exposition is brief and has been written with the intent that a student who has taken, or is ready to take, a course in analysis can read the material independently. The exposition concludes with exercises which have been designed to both illustrate and explore in more depth the ideas covered in the exposition. Each module concludes with a project in which students bring the ideas from the module to bear on a more challenging or in-depth problem. A section entitled "To the Instructor" includes suggestions on how to structure a course in order to realize the inquiry-based intent of the book. The book has also been used successfully as the basis for an independent study course and as a supplementary text for an analysis course with traditional content.

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 text is designed for those who wish to study mathematics beyond linear algebra but are not ready for abstract material. Rather than a theorem-proof-corollary-remark style of exposition, it stresses geometry, intuition, and dynamical systems. An appendix explains how to write MATLAB, Mathematica, and C programs to compute dynamical systems. 1996 edition.

The theory of dynamical systems has given rise to the vast new area variously called applied dynamics, nonlinear science, or chaos theory. This introductory text covers the central topological and probabilistic notions in dynamics ranging from Newtonian mechanics to coding theory. The only prerequisite is a basic undergraduate analysis course. The authors use a progression of examples to present the concepts and tools for describing asymptotic behavior in dynamical systems, gradually increasing the level of complexity. Subjects include contractions, logistic maps, equidistribution, symbolic dynamics, mechanics, hyperbolic dynamics, strange attractors, twist maps, and KAM-theory.

Differential equations are the basis for models of any physical systems that exhibit smooth change. This book combines much of the material found in a traditional course on ordinary differential equations with an introduction to the more modern theory of dynamical systems. Applications of this theory to physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering are shown through examples in such areas as population modeling, fluid dynamics, electronics, and mechanics. Differential Dynamical Systems begins with coverage of linear systems, including matrix algebra; the focus then shifts to foundational material on nonlinear differential equations, making heavy use of the contraction-mapping theorem. Subsequent chapters deal specifically with dynamical systems concepts?flow, stability, invariant manifolds, the phase plane, bifurcation, chaos, and Hamiltonian dynamics. This new edition contains several important updates and revisions throughout the book. Throughout the book, the author includes exercises to help students develop an analytical and geometrical understanding of dynamics. Many of the exercises and examples are based on applications and some involve computation; an appendix offers simple codes written in Maple, Mathematica, and MATLAB software to give students practice with computation applied to dynamical systems problems.