ENGR 091 Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos

Official course website

Spring 2025 • E91 • Swarthmore College • MW 11:45 to 1:00 Singer 221

Welcome to the website for E91: Nonlinear Dynamics & Chaos!

General Information

Syllabus

Syllabus

Schedule

Hyperlinks to lectures and homework assignments will be posted here. The schedule after spring break is tentative.

Class Date Topic Readings Due
1.1 Wed, Jan 22 Introduction & Review    
2.1 Mon, Jan 27 Three approaches to dynamics 2.0, 2.1, 4.0, 4.1  
2.2 Wed, Jan 29 Potentials & Linear Stability 2.4, 2.7 HW 1 [solutions]
3.1 Mon, Feb 3 Bifurcations 3.1 to 3.4  
3.2 [In-class exercise] Wed, Feb 5 Bifurcations 3.4, 3.5 (dimensional analysis and scaling), 3.7 HW 2 [solutions]
4.1 [In-class exercise] Mon, Feb 10 Linear systems Ch. 5  
4.2 Wed, Feb 12 Linear systems Ch. 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 HW 3 [solutions]
5.1 Mon, Feb 17 Nonlinear phase plane Ch. 5.3  
5.2 Wed, Feb 19 Linearization about fixed pts Ch. 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 HW 4 [solutions]
6.1 Mon, Feb 24 Hyperbolic fixed pts; popln. dyn. Ch. 6.3, 6.4  
6.2 Wed, Feb 26 Nonlinear phase plane; conservative systems Ch. 6.4-6.8 HW 5
7.1 Mon, Mar 3 Conservative systems; index Ch. 8  
7.2 [In-class exercise] Wed, Mar 5 Limit Cycles Ch. 8 HW 5 due F
8.1 [Video recording] Mon, Mar 17 Limit Cycles; Poincare-Bendixson Thm.    
8.2 Wed, Mar 19 Midterm    
9.1 [In-class exercise] Mon, Mar 24 Bifurcations    
9.2 [In-class exercise] Wed, Mar 26      
10.1 Mon, Mar 31      
10.2 Wed, Apr 2     HW 6
11.1 Mon, Apr 7      
11.2 Wed, Apr 9     HW 7
12.1 Mon, Apr 14      
12.2 Wed, Apr 16     HW 8
13.1 Mon, Apr 21      
13.2 Wed, Apr 23     HW 9
14.1 Mon, Apr 28      
14.2 Wed, Apr 30     HW 10
13.2 Wed, Apr 23      
14.1 Mon, Apr 28      
14.2 Wed, Apr 30      

Labs

Lab Topic Open Report Due Location
Lab 1 Linear vs Nonlinear Dynamics Feb 10 Feb 24 Singer 120
Lab 2 The Nonlinear Phase Plane Mar 02 Mar TBD Singer 246

Resources

Resources