GraphicalAnalysis.m

A Brief Introduction and Tutorial

Description

GraphicalAnalysis.m is a Mathematica package designed to aid students and researchers in analyzing the dynamics of functions of a single real variable.  The two main functions are PlotIterates which generates stairstep diagrams and Bifurcation which generates bifurcation diagrams.  Both of these functions provide a significant amount of flexibility and have been designed so that their syntax mimics that of most Mathematica commands.  In the following sections the use functions will be demonstrated.  To download GraphicalAnalysis.m click here.
 

Iteration

The functions PlotIterates and ListIterates perform basic iteration. PlotIterates generates a stairstep diagram while ListIterates simply returns a list of iterates.

Let's consider the family of odd symmetric, cubic polynomials

Let's begin by using the PlotIterates command to plot the function and generate a stairstep diagram of the iterates.  The help cell below summarizes the syntax and options of this function.

You can also simultaneously generate stairstep diagrams for multiple initial conditions as in the following example.  Each initial condition is colored differently.

To better understand the asymptotic dynamics we can increase the total number of iterations and increase the number of hidden iterations by changing the Iterations and Transients options.

Because each of these orbits converges to a period two orbit we might want to view the iterates of f(f(x)) instead.  We can do this using the Composition option.

The ListIterates command is similar to the PlotIterates command with two significant differences; only one initial condition can be specified and the Composition option is not applicable.

Generating Bifurcation Diagrams

This package also contains the function Bifurcation that will generate bifurcation diagrams of a family of functions.

If you find this package useful you may download it by clicking here.  Comments and/or suggestions can be emailed to tlofaro@gustavus.edu

Copyright notice

This Mathematica notebook and the package GraphicalAnalysis.m were written by Thomas LoFaro (tlofaro@gustavus.edu).  Copyright 2001.  Permission is hereby granted to modify and/or make copies of this file and/or the package GraphicalAnalysis.m for any purpose other than direct profit, or as part of a commercial product, provided this copyright notice is left intact.  Sale, other than for the cost of media, is prohibited.  Permission is hereby granted to reproduce part or all of this file and/or the package GraphicalAnalysis.m, provided the source is acknowledged.