A Tutorial Introduction to Mathematica.- Differential Equations.- Planar Systems.- Interacting Species.- Limit Cycles.- Hamiltonian Systems, Lyapunov Functions, and Stability.- Bifurcation Theory.- Three-Dimensional Autonomous Systems and Chaos.- Poincare Maps and Nonautonomous Systems in the Plane.- Local and Global Bifurcations.- The Second Part of Hilbert's Sixteenth Problem.- Linear Discrete Dynamical Systems.- Nonlinear Discrete Dynamical Systems.- Complex Iterative Maps.- Electromagnetic Waves and Optical Resonators.- Fractals and Multifractals.- Chaos Control and Synchronization.- Neural Networks.- Examination-Type Questions.- Solutions to Exercises.

This book provides an introduction to the theory of dynamical systems with the aid of the Mathematica® computer algebra package. The book has a very hands-on approach and takes the reader from basic theory to recently published research material. Emphasized throughout are numerous applications to biology, chemical kinetics, economics, electronics, epidemiology, nonlinear optics, mechanics, population dynamics, and neural networks. Theorems and proofs are kept to a minimum. The first section deals with continuous systems using ordinary differential equations, while the second part is devoted to the study of discrete dynamical systems.