The course offers a senior undergraduate / starting graduate level introduction to nonlinear dynamics and chaos. Effects of nonlinearities in systems encountered in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and engineering are studied with the aim of providing basic tools to simulate and analyze nonlinear systems.
Nonlinear dynamics - pervasive in even the simplest laws of nature - often leads to bewilderingly complex outcomes. Within this chaos, modern theory of dynamical systems uncovers structures largely independent of the details of underlying dynamics. The main theme is the qualitative analysis of nonlinear dynamical flows: stability of fixed points, existence of limit cycles, bifurcations and chaos. The systems to be studied are drawn from a wide range of sciences and engineering applications.
TEXT: Steven H. Strogatz: Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos; supplementary notes and a subset of Chaos: Classical and Quantum webbook, available on ChaosBook.org.
START Tuesday, Aug 19 2025, 9:30pm in Mason 2117, with detailed schedule available on ChaosBook.org/course0.