On Devaney's Definition of Chaos

Author(s): J. Banks, J. Brooks, G. Cairns, G. Davis and P. Stacey

Source: The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 99, No. 4 (Apr., 1992), pp. 332-334
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2324899
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On Devaney'sDefinitionofChaos
J.Banks,J.Brooks,G. Cairns,G. Davis and P. Stacey

Chaotic dynamicalsystemshave receiveda greatdeal of attentionin recentyears

(see forinstance[2],[3]). Althoughtherehas been no universallyaccepted mathematical definitionof chaos, the popular textby Devaney [1] isolates three components as being the essential features of chaos. They are formulatedfor a
continuousmap f: X -> X on some metricspace X (to avoid degeneratecases we
will assume in this note that X is not a finiteset). The firstof Devaney's three
conditionsis thatf is transitive;
thatis, forall non-empty
open subsetsU and V of
X thereexistsa naturalnumberk such that f k(U) n V is nonempty.In a certain
is an irreducibility
condition.The second of Devaney'sconditions
sense,transitivity
is that the periodicpointsof f forma dense subset of X. Devaney refersto this
conditionas an "element of regularity"([1], p. 50). The finalconditionis called
sensitivedependenceon initialconditions;f verifiesthis propertyif there is a
positivereal number8 (a sensitivity
constant)such thatforeverypoint x in X and
everyneighborhoodN of x thereexistsa point y in N and a nonnegativeinteger
n such that the nthiterates fW(x) and ff(y) of x and y respectively,
are more
than distance 8 apart. This sensitivity
conditioncapturesthe idea that in chaotic
systemsminute errors in experimentalreadings eventuallylead to large scale
divergence.Sensitivedependenceon initialconditionsis thuswidelyunderstoodas
being the centralidea in chaos.

Devaney's Definitionof Chaos. Let X be a metric

space. A continuous map f: X -- X is said to be
chaoticon X if
1. f is transitive,
2. the periodicpointsof f are dense in X,
3. f has sensitivedependenceon initialconditions.

The aim of this note is to prove the followingelementarybut somewhat

surprisingresult.
Theorem. If f: X -- X is transitive
and has denseperiodicpointsthenf has sensitive
dependenceon initialconditions.
BeforeprovingthisTheorem,let us discusssome of the ideas thatmotivatedit.
Firstof all, any definitionof chaos mustface the obviousquestion:Is it preserved
under topologicalconjugation?That is to say, if f is chaotic and if we have a
332

JOHN BANKS

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[April

commutative
diagram
h
hi

Ih

y-

thenis g necessarily
whereY is anothermetricspaceand h is a homeomorphism,
chaotic?Certainlytransitivity
and the existenceof dense periodicpointsare
as theyarepurelytopological
conditions.
However,
sensitivity
is a metric
preserved
as the
undertopological
conjugation,
property
and in generalit is notpreserved
following
simpleexampleshows.Let X be the subset(1,oo)of the real line,
let f be multiplication
by2, let Y be theset
equippedwiththestandardmetric,
R' ofpositiverealsandlet h be log.Clearlyf has sensitive
dependenceon initial
and henceis notsensitive
forthestandard
conditions
but g is just a translation
it is notdifficult
to find
metricon R+.In fact,as we leaveto thereaderto verify,
is not preservedunder conjugation.
transitive
examplesfor whichsensitivity
and denseperiodicpoints
Nevertheless,
as theaboveTheoremshows,transitivity
is preserved.
Beforeclosingthisparagraph
together
(trivially)
assurethatsensitivity
on conjugation,
let us remarkthatsensitivity
can be regardedas a topological
to compactspaces X (whichis oftenthe
one's attention
conceptif one restricts
case in practice).Indeed,supposethatX is compactand thatf is conjugateto g
on initial
as intheabovediagram.
dependence
Supposeas wellthatf hassensitive
constant8. Let Da denotetheset of pairs(x1,x2) of
withsensitivity
conditions,
pointsin X whichare separatedby distanceat least 8. Then D. is a compact
subsetof theCartesianproductX x X and so itsimageE. in Y x Y underthe
the minimum
dismap (x1,x2) - (h(x1),h(x2)) is also compact.Consequently
that
tanceSy > 0 existsbetweenE, andthediagonalin Y X Y. It is easytoverify
withsensitivity
constantSy.
g has sensitive
dependenceon initialconditions
Proofof Theorem:We suppose thatf: X

-*

points.

X is transitive
and has dense periodic

Firstobservethatthereis a numberSo > 0 suchthatforall x E X thereexists

a periodic point q E X whose orbit O(q)

is of distance at least 80/2 from x.

Indeed,choosetwoarbitrary
periodicpointsq1 and q2 withdisjointorbitsO(q1)
and 0(q2). Let So denotethe distancebetweenO(q1) and 0(q2). Thenby the
triangle
inequality,
everypointx E X is at distanceat least8o/2fromone ofthe
on initial
chosentwoperiodicorbits.We willshowthatf hassensitive
dependence
constant8 = 80/8.
withsensitivity
conditions
of x.
Now let x be an arbitrary
pointin X and let N be someneighborhood
Since theperiodicpointsof f are dense,thereexistsa periodicpointp in the
intersectionU = N nl B8(x) of N withthe ball Bj(x) of radius 8 centeredat x.

Let n denotetheperiodof p. As we showedabove,thereexistsa periodicpoint

q E X whose orbitO(q)

is of distanceat least 48 fromx. Set

n

v= nf -(B(f

1(q))).

i=O

since f is
since q E V. Consequently,
ClearlyV is open and it is non-empty
transitive,
thereexistsy in U and a naturalnumberk suchthatf k(y) E V.
1992]

ON DEVANEY'

DEFINITION OF CHAOS

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333

Nowlet j be theinteger
partof k/n + 1. So 1 < nj - k < n. Byconstruction,
one has
f ni(y) = f ni-k(fk(y))

Nowf ni(p)

Ef ni-k(V)

cB

(f ni-k(q)).

p, and so bythetriangle
inequality,

d(fni(p), fni(y)) = d(p, fni(y))

> dxfn-k

(q))

-d(f ni-k (q), f ni(y))-(,)

since p E B6(x) and

where d is the distancefunctionon X. Consequently,

fnf(y) E B6(f ni-k(q)), one has

d(fn1(p),

fni(y))

> 45 -8

8 = 28.

Thus, using the triangleinequalityagain, either d(fni(X),fni(y)) > 8 or

d(f ni(x),f ni(p)) > 8. In eithercase, we have founda pointin N whose njth
iterateis more than distance 8 fromf ni(X). This completesthe proof.

REFERENCES
to ChaoticDynamicalSystems,Addison-Wesley,1989.
1. R. L. Devaney, An Introduction
2. J-P.Eckmannand D. Ruelle, Ergodic theoryof chaos and strangeattractors,Rev. Mod. Phys.,57
(1985) 617-656.
3. I. Stewart,Does God Play Dice? Mathematicsof Chaos, Blackwell,1989.

Departmentof Mathematics
La TrobeUniversity
Melbourne,3083
Australia

334

JOHN BANKS

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[April