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Santa Fe Institute

Introduction to Dynamical Systems and Chaos

Santa Fe Institute via Complexity Explorer

Overview

In this course you'll gain an introduction to the modern study of dynamical systems, the interdisciplinary field of applied mathematics that studies systems that change over time. 

Topics to be covered include: phase space, bifurcations, chaos, the butterfly effect, strange attractors, and pattern formation.  The course will focus on some of the realizations from the study of dynamical systems that are of particular relevance to complex systems:

1.  Dynamical systems undergo bifurcations, where a small change in a system parameter such as the temperature or the harvest rate in a fishery leads to a large and qualitative change in the system's
behavior.

2.  Deterministic dynamical systems can behave randomly.  This property, known as sensitive dependence or the butterfly effect, places strong limits on our ability to predict some phenomena.

3.  Disordered behavior can be stable.  Non-periodic systems with the butterfly effect can have stable average properties.  So the average or statistical properties of a system can be predictable, even if its details are not.

4.  Complex behavior can arise from simple rules.  Simple dynamical systems do not necessarily lead to simple results.  In particular, we will see that simple rules can produce patterns and structures of surprising complexity.

Taught by

David Feldman

Reviews

4.9 rating, based on 124 Class Central reviews

Start your review of Introduction to Dynamical Systems and Chaos

  • Aleta Duvall
    I appreciated the structured approach to the course material and the painstaking development of foundational concepts. Dr. Feldman presents the course in an informal, across-the-desk manner. Each lecture feels like you are experiencing an individual…
  • This course is a awesome mine of information and knowledge on dynamical systems and chaos. It starts at the very beginning by explaining the mathematical bricks necessary to understand the following units, but it's not a heavy mathematical course. Q…
  • This course is perfect for beginners who want to get a grasp of the field of chaos with minimal mathematical/numerical material, but yet enough to have a flavor of the underlying world, beyond the bases. Dave Feldman is a great teacher, very dedicat…
  • Anonymous
    I took this a course prior to a Dynamical Systems course in the next semester. It took 10 days in full time to finish this course. This course explains major ideas in dynamical systems and chaos. Since well organized sets of quizzes, lectures, summary and test, topics were easy to understand. Each subsection and video is segmented in a short time, which allowed me to plan to take those without burden.

    I might have been better if the figures drawn by hand by the instructor had been attached in the summary slides.
  • Anonymous
    A Wonderful course. I think David Feldman share an interesting view in wich he uses mathematics but also art, philosophie. There are a lot of great questions that offer a widely view of Complexity.
    Thank very much to the teacher David. He's capable for offering continually a diferente point of view from mathematics, very artistic, very realistic, very philosophic. And I'm a Maths's teacher. Never I had a more interesting exposition from mathematics.
    Great, great teacher!
    Thank you very much David.
  • Class Central user
    This is a fun class which I would highly recommend. Incredibly accessible course which introduced an interesting branch of mathematics.

    If you've done a bit of computer science or programming, this class shows a very interesting result from the simple idea of iteration.

    The professor is interesting and makes the material intuitive. Regardless of your level of mathematical comfortability, this class is well paced and provides all the tools you need to proceed through it.

    Don't miss this class!!
  • Anonymous
    Incredibly organized. My undergrad students can follow this course. What a great job breaking down a very complex topic into digestible bits with exercises and explanations.
  • Anonymous
    An excellent course, and Dr. Feldman provides clear instructions that are easy to follow along. Being able to work at my own pace was excellent as the father of a newborn/toddler (it took me almost a year to work through the course given the baby's schedule). But I feel confident that I know what I'm doing, and honestly feel that this course will benefit me in my line of work.
  • Anonymous
    This was the missing link for me. I had read many popular science books about dynamical systems and chaos, and was eager to gain a more nuanced and technical understanding of the field. The only thing holding me back, of course, was a lack of backgr…
  • Profile image for Navyanth Kusam
    Navyanth Kusam
    Thanks for making this course available for all. It really changed the way I see the computational world. I had a masters degree in Computational engineering where I learned about the fundamentals of Continuum mechanics and its applications in Str…
  • Anonymous
    very clear thanks! My teacher recommends I see it. It's very easy to get started, with clear pronunciation, excellent subtitles, comprehensive PowerPoint materials, and charismatic instructors. There are also regular quizzes for practice and feedback, all for free. It's truly commendable.
  • Sabine Hiller
    A fascinating course, I absolutely loved it! There was a bit of maths involved, but Dave Feldman walked us through it step by step - so slowly that even somebody who has no idea whatsoever of maths should grasp it. Sitting in front of my laptop on the other side of the globe, I felt he deeply cared that you understood everything - as somebody said above, it almost felt like a personal tutorial! As I had already done Melanie Mitchell's course (equally excellent!), I was familiar with much of the territory, but Dave's approach helped me to understand some of the more difficult concepts. I think the two courses complement each other very nicely. Highly recommended!
  • Anonymous
    I wanted to thank professor David Feldman for making this introductory course easily approachable. I'm eagerly looking forward to his future courses!
    Also, ComplexityExplorer platform was intuitive and very user-friendly.
    I got a fun experience there, thank you!
  • Profile image for Facu Rod
    Facu Rod
    You learn this theme from the very beginning, starting with dynamical systems, which are nothing other than differential equations and iterative maps you get to know the most basic systems that show chaotic behaviour. Then you go on to higher dimensions, up to 3d dynamica system like the Lorenz Equations and the Rössler Attractor. Universality and renormalization are very good introduced and give you a grasp, why Dynamical Systems and Chaos are omnipresent. At the end you learn why making dough is related to complex chaotic behaviour , because the stretch and fold.
  • David
    This class was just amazing and great. Mr. Feldman knows how to really get you to see the 'big idea' and that's the most import part of any intro class; to get the big picture. Math was light and not terrifying. Deadline is the class day of class. Quizzes were light and the homework was challenging enough if you wanted it to be. I absolutely loved this class.
  • Abhijit Borah
    A great point for a young person, with knowledge about calculus to start if he or she wishes to pursue this field. This course starts step by step, and is excellent in making the learning about nonlinear-dynamics an almost effortless process. The homework at the end of each unit are a must do to enjoy the course. Knowing computer programing is really a necessity I would say so.
  • Anonymous
    I completed this course a few years ago just to learn about chaos theory. I loved it! I am a math teacher and this year have an honors precalculus course. I am letting my students complete it for extra credit and the ones doing it are enjoying it so much next year I will require it - perhaps work on it as a class each Friday. Thank you so much for a great course!
  • I had a great time having this course and Prof. Feldman was so dedicated in diving us into this amazing subject. I think that the course gave us a solid platform in order to go deeper in the study of Dynamical Systems and Complexity.
  • Complexity and Dynamical Systems is a fascinating field of mathematics. There are linear, predictable and well-ordered systems, like simple physical motion. There are non-linear systems, like the weather. What are the latter like? Can they be studi…
  • Anonymous
    I enjoyed the course very much. The teacher is great, he can explain both familiar and new (complicated) matter in a fresh and understandable way. I helped me to understand dynamical systems deeper, as I do dynamical modeling in economics.

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