A First Course In Chaotic Dynamical Systems

Professor Robert L. Devaney received his A.B. from Holy Cross College and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1973. He taught at Northwestern University, Tufts University, and the University of Maryland before coming to Boston University in 1980. He served there as chairman of the Department of Mathematics from 1983 to 1986. His main area of research is dynamical systems, including Hamiltonian systems, complex analytic dynamics, and computer experiments in dynamics. He is the author of An Introduction to Chaotic Dynamical Systems, and Chaos, Fractals, and Dynamics: Computer Experiments in Modern Mathematics, which aims to explain the beauty of chaotic dynamics to high school students and teachers.

* A Mathematical and Historical Tour * Examples of Dynamical Systems * Orbits * Graphical Analysis * Fixed and Periodic Points * Bifurcations * The Quadratic Family * Transition to Chaos * Symbolic Dynamics * Chaos * Sarkovskiis Theorem * The Role of the Critical Orbit * Newtons Method * Fractals * Complex Functions * The Julia Set * The Mandelbrot Set * Further Projects and Experiments