UC Berkeley

Pynamical is an educational Python package for introducing the modeling, simulation, and visualization of discrete nonlinear dynamical systems and chaos, focusing on one-dimensional maps (such as the logistic map and the cubic map). Pynamical facilitates defining discrete one-dimensional nonlinear models as Python functions with just-in-time compilation for fast simulation. It comes packaged with the logistic map, the Singer map, and the cubic map predefined. The models may be run with a range of parameter values over a set of time steps, and the resulting numerical output is returned as a pandas DataFrame. Pynamical can then visualize this output in various ways, including with bifurcation diagrams, two-dimensional phase diagrams, three-dimensional phase diagrams, and cobweb plots. These visualizations enable simple qualitative assessments of system behavior including phase transitions, bifurcation points, attractors and limit cycles, basins of attraction, and fractals.