Chaotic Dynamics: An Introduction

by Gregory L. Baker and Jerry P. Gollub

Book Overview

A short, quantitative introduction to chaos and nonlinear dynamics. The authors illustrate all the main features of chaotic dynamics using the damped, driven pendulum as a primary model. A special feature is the inclusion of both analytic and computer exercises with which the reader may expand on the many numerical simulations included in the book, thus encouraging learning through participation. This book requires only a background in calculus and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 052138897X
• ISBN13: 9780521388979
• Release Date: June 1990
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.0" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

From the pendulum to chaos in straightforward steps

Books that take you from undergraduate physics to a nontrivial understanding of nonlinear dynamics, chaos and fractals are rare. Chaotic Dynamics does the job ellegantly. The familiar pendulum is used to illustrate the basic techniques and concepts in nonlinear dynamics. The reader is gently introduced to phase diagrams, Poincare sections, basins of attraction and bifurcation diagrams. Computer code is included in the Appendix. The interested reader can use this code to further illustrate the lessons of the text or to embark on his/her own exploration of the pendulum and other dynamical systems. Having used the pendulum to establish a firm conceptual platform, Baker and Gollub progress gracefully into the logistic map to illustrate concepts such as period doubling, Lyapunov exponent, entropy, stretching and folding, and various measures of fractal dimension. The presentation is nicely rounded off with studies of other maps and nonlinear dynamical systems from a range of fields in physics, chemistry and fluid dynamics.

Chaos and True Basic Code

The gateway to experimental chaos research comes through here! The mathematics, the examples and code that illustrates the book is here. It is somewhat narrow in it's beginning approach, but delivers after careful study a beginning of understanding with some real industry. Not for the mathemaically shy or Professors like Ruelle, but for real people wanting real answers! Your unique Associates ID is: thefractaltransl.