Numerical Calculation of Lyapunov Exponents

Volume 6, Issue 3
Summer 1996

The Lyapunov characteristic exponents play a crucial role in the description of the behavior of dynamical systems. They measure the average rate of divergence or convergence of orbits starting from nearly initial points. Therefore, they can be used to analyze the stability of limits sets and to check sensitive dependence on initial conditions, that is, the presence of chaotic attractors. This article shows how to use Mathematica to compute the Lyapunov spectrum of a smooth dynamical system.