Massimo Cencini - Böcker

This book offers an informal, easy-to-understand account of topics in modern physics and mathematics. The book features 28 key entries and it is carefully structured so as to allow readers to pursue different paths that reflect their interests and priorities, thereby avoiding an excessively systematic presentation that might stifle interest.

This book offers an informal, easy-to-understand account of topics in modern physics and mathematics. The book features 28 key entries and it is carefully structured so as to allow readers to pursue different paths that reflect their interests and priorities, thereby avoiding an excessively systematic presentation that might stifle interest.

This book reviews the basic ideas of the Law of Large Numbers with its consequences to the deterministic world and the issue of ergodicity.

Chaos: from simple models to complex systems aims to guide science and engineering students through chaos and nonlinear dynamics from classical examples to the most recent fields of research. The first part, intended for undergraduate and graduate students, is a gentle and self-contained introduction to the concepts and main tools for the characterization of deterministic chaotic systems, with emphasis to statistical approaches. The second part can be used as a reference by researchers as it focuses on more advanced topics including the characterization of chaos with tools of information theory and applications encompassing fluid and celestial mechanics, chemistry and biology.The book is novel in devoting attention to a few topics often overlooked in introductory textbooks and which are usually found only in advanced surveys such as: information and algorithmic complexity theory applied to chaos and generalization of Lyapunov exponents to account for spatiotemporal and non-infinitesimal perturbations.The selection of topics, numerous illustrations, exercises and proposals for computer experiments make the book ideal for both introductory and advanced courses.