The exponential divergence of chaotic trajectories of a driven nonlinear oscillator is considered. A particularly simple method of determination of the Lyapunov exponents of experimental data is shown to yield quantitative estimates which scale with the control parameter of the system in accord with expectation. Numerical comparisons with conventional approaches, which are unsuited to pedagogic use, demonstrate the adequacy of the present method in this context.
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© 1993 American Association of Physics Teachers.
1993
American Association of Physics Teachers
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