ABSTRACT
Since the time of Newton, the science of dynamics has provided quantitative descriptions of regular motion, from a pendulum’s swing to a planet’s orbit, expressed in terms of differential equations. The role of Newtonian mechanics has recently expanded with the realization that it can also describe chaotic motion. In elementary terms, chaos can be defined as pseudorandom behavior observed in the steady-state dynamics of a deterministic nonlinear system. The strange nature of chaotic motion was first understood by Henri Poincare, who established the mathematical foundations of chaos in a treatise published in 1890. Although chaos is used purposely to provide an element of unpredictability in some toys and carnival rides, it is important from an engineering point of view primarily as a phenomenon to be avoided.
