| nonlinear dynamics | The study of systems which respond disproportionately (nonlinearly) to initial conditions or perturbing stimuli. Nonlinear systems may exhibit chaos which is classically characterised as sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Chaotic systems, while distinguished from more ordered periodic systems, are not random. When their behaviour over time is appropriately displayed (in phase space), constraints are evident which are described by strange attractors. Phase space representations of chaotic systems, or strange attractors, usually reveal fractal (fractals) self-similarity across time scales. Natural, including biological, systems often display nonlinear dynamics and chaos. (12 Dec 1998) |
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