Introducing students to nonlinearity: computer experiments with Burgers mappings

Abstract

Projects are described which introduce students to the process of investigating a mathematical model by numerical experiment, as well as to some of the concepts of modern nonlinear dynamics, such as bifurcation, chaos and attractor. Simple programs (in BASIC) for iterating a two-dimensional mapping are used. Such projects can provide surprises for the supervisor as well as the student; indeed, two results are briefly presented that, the authors believe, have not been previously described in the literature on two-dimensional mappings.