A combinatorial method is developed in this book to explore the mysteries of chaos, which has became a topic of science since 1975. Using tools from theoretical computer science, formal languages and automata, the complexity of symbolic behaviors of dynamical systems is classified and analysed thoroughly. This book is mainly devoted to explanation of this method and apply it to one-dimensional dynamical systems, including the circle and interval maps, which are typical in exhibiting complex behavior through simple iterated calculations. The knowledge for reading it is self-contained in the book.

This book is a monograph on chaos in dissipative systems written for those working in the physical sciences. Emphasis is on symbolic description of the dynamics and various characteristics of the attractors, and written from the view-point of practical applications without going into formal mathematical rigour. The author used elementary mathematics and calculus, and relied on physical intuition whenever possible. Substantial attention is paid to numerical techniques in the study of chaos. Part of the book is based on the publications of Chinese researchers, including those of the author's collaborators.

This book is a monograph on chaos in dissipative systems written for those working in the physical sciences. Emphasis is on symbolic description of the dynamics and various characteristics of the attractors, and written from the view-point of practical applications without going into formal mathematical rigour. The author used elementary mathematics and calculus, and relied on physical intuition whenever possible. Substantial attention is paid to numerical techniques in the study of chaos. Part of the book is based on the publications of Chinese researchers, including those of the author's collaborators.

Symbolic dynamics is a coarse-grained description of dynamics. It has been a long-studied chapter of the mathematical theory of dynamical systems, but its abstract formulation has kept many practitioners of physical sciences and engineering from appreciating its simplicity, beauty, and power. At the same time, symbolic dynamics provides almost the only rigorous way to understand global systematics of periodic and, especially, chaotic motion in dynamical systems. In a sense, everyone who enters the field of chaotic dynamics should begin with the study of symbolic dynamics. However, this has not been an easy task for non-mathematicians. On one hand, the method of symbolic dynamics has been developed to such an extent that it may well become a practical tool in studying chaotic dynamics, both on computers and in laboratories. On the other hand, most of the existing literature on symbolic dynamics is mathematics-oriented. This book is an attempt at partially filling up this apparent gap by emphasizing the applied aspects of symbolic dynamics without mathematical rigor.