AMATH 402/502 Winter 2017

Homework 7

DUE at 3pm Friday, March 3

1. Consider the 2-D linear map xn+1 = Axn , where

0 1/2
A= (1)
1/2 a

(a) Find the fixed point(s) for any value of the real parameter a.

(b) Say whether each fixed point is stable or unstable when a = 1. Show your work.

(c) Repeat part(b) for a = 2.

2. (Strogatz 8.7.3: Poincare map) Consider an over damped linear oscillator forced by a
square wave. You can non-dimensionalize the system, to get to x + x = F (t), where
F (t) is the forcing function (square wave here). Specifically, let the forcing function
be periodic (with period T), and be

A : 0 < t < T /2
F (t) =
A : T /2 < t < T

with suitable repetition for subsequent cycles of the (periodic) square wave.

The goal is to show that all trajectories of the system approach a unique periodic
solution, using the Poincare maps weve learned about in class!

(a) Let x(0) = x0 . Show that x(T ) = x0 eT A(1 eT /2 )2 . (Hint: remember this
is a linear differential equation, and you can solve it!)

(b) Show that the system has a unique periodic solution, satisfying x0 = A tanh(T /4)

(c) Using your answer from (a), find the limits limT 0 x(T ), and limT x(T ), and
explain why these make physical/mathematical sense for this system.

(d) Let x1 = x(T ), and define the Poincare map P by x1 = P (x0 ). Similarly, xn+1 =
P (xn ). Plot the graph of P on our xn+1 , xn axes.

1
 (e) Using a cobweb picture, show that P has a globally stable fixed point (and thus
the original system eventually settles to a unique periodic trajectory).

3. (Strogatz 10.1.12). Many times this term, weve needed to find the roots of cubic,
quartic, etc. (including some 8th-order) polynomials, and weve typically just punted
and used graphical analyses. Or we can use numerical methods, like Newtons method.
Lets study that method! Suppose you want to find the roots of an equation of the
form g(x) = 0. To use Newtons method, you construct a map xn+1 = f (xn ), where
g(xn )
f (xn ) = xn .
g 0 (xn )

By iterating that map, you converge to (fixed points of the map which correspond to)
zeros of g(x).

(a) For a specific example, write down the Newton map xn+1 = f (xn ) to find roots
of the equation g(x) = x2 4 = 0

(b) Show that the Newton map has fixed points at x = 2

(c) Show that these fixed points are superstable, which means
 that the linear stability

analysis shows zero growth for perturbations (df /dx = 0).
x
(d) (optional, but would be fun to do using a simple computer program) Iterate
the map numerically starting from x0 = 1, and observe how quickly the system
converges to the fixed point!

4. (Strogatz 10.3.5). Show that the logistic map xn+1 = rxn (1 xn ) can be transformed
into the quadratic map yn+1 = yn2 + c (for constant c) by a linear change of variables
xn = ayn + b for some constants a, b to be determined. Notice that this means that
one could analyze the quadratic map, or the logistic map, and easily translate our
conclusions from one map to another: the dynamics of the maps are (in some sense)
equivalent.

The homework will be graded statistically: you will receive 5/15 of the credit for handing in
a complete assignment (solutions for every problem), and the remaining 10/15 will be for
correct solutions to twos randomly chosen problem. Late homework is not accepted. Your
homework should be neat and readable. The TAs are allowed to subtract points (or fractions
thereof, at their discretion) for presentation.