A First Course In Discrete Dynamical Systems

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.

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.

This textbook is an elementary introduction to the world of dynamical systems and Chaos. Dynamical systems provide a mathematical means of modeling and analysing aspects of the changing world around us. The aim of this ground-breaking new text is to introduce the reader both to the wide variety of techniques used to study dynamical systems and to their many applications. In particular, investigation of dynamical systems leads to the important concepts of stability, strange attractors, Chaos, and fractals.

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 theory of dynamical systems is a major mathematical discipline closely intertwined with all main areas of mathematics. It has greatly stimulated research in many sciences and given rise to the vast new area variously called applied dynamics, nonlinear science, or chaos theory. This introduction for senior undergraduate and beginning graduate students of mathematics, physics, and engineering combines mathematical rigor with copious examples of important applications. It covers the central topological and probabilistic notions in dynamics ranging from Newtonian mechanics to coding theory. Readers need not be familiar with manifolds or measure theory; the only prerequisite is a basic undergraduate analysis course. The authors begin by describing the wide array of scientific and mathematical questions that dynamics can address. They then use a progression of examples to present the concepts and tools for describing asymptotic behavior in dynamical systems, gradually increasing the level of complexity. The final chapters introduce modern developments and applications of dynamics. Subjects include contractions, logistic maps, equidistribution, symbolic dynamics, mechanics, hyperbolic dynamics, strange attractors, twist maps, and KAM-theory.

There is an explosion of interest in dynamical systems in the mathematical community as well as in many areas of science. The results have been truly exciting: systems which once seemed completely intractable from an analytic point of view can now be understood in a geometric or qualitative sense rather easily. Scientists and engineers realize the power and the beauty of the geometric and qualitative techniques. These techniques apply to a number of important nonlinear problems ranging from physics and chemistry to ecology and economics. Computer graphics have allowed us to view the dynamical behavior geometrically. The appearance of incredibly beautiful and intricate objects such as the Mandelbrot set, the Julia set, and other fractals have really piqued interest in the field. This is text is aimed primarily at advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students. Throughout, the author emphasizes the mathematical aspects of the theory of discrete dynamical systems, not the many and diverse applications of this theory. The field of dynamical systems and especially the study of chaotic systems has been hailed as one of the important breakthroughs in science in the past century and its importance continues to expand. There is no question that the field is becoming more and more important in a variety of scientific disciplines. New to this edition: •Greatly expanded coverage complex dynamics now in Chapter 2 •The third chapter is now devoted to higher dimensional dynamical systems. •Chapters 2 and 3 are independent of one another. •New exercises have been added throughout.

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.