Dynamical Systems : An Introduction with Applications in Economics and Biology

This book - perhaps the only of its kind - gives an all com- prehensive account of Dynamical Systems in a plain nontechnical language which is as rigorous as it can be made at this introductory level. Starting from the first steps of differential equations, on the assumption that readers only have a modicus mathematical background, it quickly takes them to nonlinear dynamical systems, Linearisation Theory, Limit Cycles, Gradient, Lagrangean and Hamiltonian Dynamical Systems as well as more advanced material such as Bifurcation, Chaos, Catastrophes and Optimal Dynamical Systems. A chapter reviewing Linear Algebra makes the book self-contained, and a chapter devoted to Applications in Economics and Biology will improve readers' motivations