GEM2505

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Taming Chaos

• GEM2505

Frederick H. Willeboordse frederik_at_chaos.nus.edu.s
g
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Briefing and Introduction

• Lecture 0

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Frederick H. Willeboordse
S12 03-06 Dept. Physics Specialized in Complex
Systems and Chaos E-mail phyfhw_at_nus.edu.sg
Who am I ???
This picture was taken in 2371 on board of the
starship Enterprise and is, due to time
distortions, a bit blurry. Who would have thought
Id end up in Singapore!
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Why the module?
Understanding
In order to gain an understanding of nature in a
way thats rather different from the traditional
approach.
How about Math?
Well need some Mathematics but it will be
limited and should generally not exceed secondary
school level.
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Workload
The total workload for this GEM is 10 hours per
week.
A 2 4 lecture hours per week B 1 tutorial
hour per week C 0 lab work per week D 1 - 3
hours for assignments per week E 4 hours of
preparation work per week
Of course, for this module, items DE can overlap.
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Schedule

• Lectures 2 4 hours per week for a total of 26
  lecture hours
• (these include the in-class quizzes)
• Mondays Thursdays 1600 1800 as announced
• Tutorials4 times 1 hour as announced
• Discussion Sessions3 times As announced

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Schedule
Jan 12, 2004 Lecture 0
Jan 15, 2004 Lecture 1
Jan 19, 2004 Lecture 2
Jan 26, 2004 Lecture 3 SCT1
Jan 29, 2004 Lecture 4 SCT1
Feb 5, 2004 ICT1
Feb 9, 2004 Lecture 5
Feb 12, 2004 Lecture 6
Week of Feb 16, 2004 Reading Assignments SCT2
Feb 23, 2004 Lecture 7
Feb 26, 2004 Lecture 8
Mar 1, 2004 ICT2
Mar 4, 2004 Lecture 9
Week of Mar 8, 2004 Reading Assignments SCT3
Mar 15, 2004 Lecture 10
Mar 22, 2004 Lecture 11 SCT4
Mar 29, 2004 Lecture 12
Apr 1, 2004 ICT3
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Assessment
All together there will be 10 quizzes with which
you can earn 5 points each for a total of 50
points.The final exam will be open book and
count for 50 points as well.
Quizzes 10 5 points Exam 1 50 points
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Lectures
During most of the lectures, there will be a
quiz. Usually, Ill try to do the quiz around the
middle of the lecture so that you wont miss it
if you come late.
Discussion of Assignment
Discussion of Previous Quiz
First Part of the Lecture
Lecture
Quiz
Applets and Animations
Second Part of the Lecture
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Tutorials
The goal of the tutorial is to have a free and
open discussion.
There are two types of tutorials
In-class
Small group
Register after the lecture.
last semesters class
Talk!
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Text Books

• All the lecture notes as well as other relevant
  material can be found on my web site
  athttp//chaos.nus.edu.sg/Teaching/GEM2505/
• There are no required text books!
• Recommended BookJames Gleick - Chaos

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Course Contents
There will be three chapters around the broader
theme of chaos some changes may still be made!

1. The Essence of Chaos
2. Fractals, CAs Networks
3. Understanding Chaos

Does organization need regularity?
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Course Contents
I. The Essence of Chaos

• The Butterfly Effect
• The Clockwork Syndrome

?
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Course Contents
II. Fractals

• The Cantor Set
• The Mandelbrot Set

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Course Contents
II. Cellular Automata

• The Game of Life
• A New Kind of Science

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Course Contents
II. Scalefree Networks

• The Internet
• The Cell

What do they have in common?
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Course Contents
III. Understanding Chaos

• The Logistic Map
• Strange Attractors
• Universality Randomness

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Some Examples of Chaos
The motion of the planets is chaotic. In fact,
even the sun, earth moon system cannot be solved
analytically!
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Some Examples of Chaos
The red spot on Jupiter
Can such a spot survive in a chaotic
environment? Or perhaps, can it exist without
chaos?
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Some Examples of Chaos
An experiment by Swinney
One of the great successes of experimental chaos
studies.A spot is reproduced.
Note these are false colors.
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Some Examples of Chaos
Beluzov-Zhabotinski reaction
Waves representing the concentration of a certain
chemical(s). These can assume many patterns and
can also be chaotic
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Some Examples of Chaos
Satellite image of a river delta
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Some Examples of Chaos
Yummi!
Broccoli Romanesco is a cross between Broccoli
and Cauliflower.
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Some Examples of Chaos
Would there be life without chaos?
The venous and arterial system of a kidney
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Summary

• Our world is embedded in a dichotomy of order and
  chaos.
• It is possible to gain a qualitative
  understanding of chaos without too much
  mathematics.

Chaos is fun!