scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1564002

Publication date 12 February 2001

bifurcation of a stationary state catastrophe theory critical point historical overview instability of a function singular point of a mapping structural stability

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Mathematics for nonmathematicians (engineering, social sciences, etc.) (00A06) Critical points of functions and mappings on manifolds (58K05) Catastrophe theory (58K35)

Review text

The author presents a historical overview of ideas and methods led to the catastrophe theory and informally introduces the following basic notions of the theory: structural stability and instability of a function, bifurcation of a stationary state, and a singular point of a mapping. The presentation is endowed with a careful study of some simple mechanic system which demonstrates usefulness of the notions introduced. The article is based on a lecture given by the author for secondary school teachers in the framework of the ``International Soros Science Educational Program and is aimed at presenting contemporary developments in mathematics on an elementary level understandable for secondary school teachers and pupils.

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