ABSTRACT
This chapter begins our study of two-dimensional nonlinear systems. First we consider some of their general properties. Then we classify the kinds of fixed points that can arise, building on our knowledge of linear systems (Chapter 5). The theory is further developed through a series of examples from biology (competition between two species) and physics (conservative systems, reversible systems, and the pendulum). The chapter concludes with a discussion of index theory, a topological method that provides global information about the phase portrait.
