MA303

Chaos and Dynamical Systems

Exercises 6
1. Consider the logistic map f4 (x) = 4x(1 x).
(a) Prove that f4 has at least 2n periodic points of (not necessarily prime) period n in the
interval [0, 1].
(b) Prove that if x0 > 1 or x0 < 0 then f4n (x0 ) as n .
(c) Prove that if x0 [0, 1] then f4n (x0 ) [0, 1] for all n N.

2. Let qc (x) = x2 +c with c < (5+2 5)/4. Let p+ (c) = 21 (1+ 1 4c), let I = [p+ (c), p+ (c)],
and let A1 = {x I : qc (x) 6 I}. Prove that |qc (x)| > 1 for all x I \ A1 .
3. Compute the sum of the lengths of the intervals that are removed from the interval [0, 1] in
the construction of the Cantor middle-thirds set.
4*. Extra We consider the tent function T3 given by T3 (x) = 3x if x 1/2 and T3 (x) = 3 3x
if x > 1/2.
(a) Sketch the graph of T3 and show that if x0 > 1 or x0 < 0 then T3n (x0 ) as n .
(b) Find the fixed points of T3 . What is the ternary expansion of these points?
(c) Show that 3/13 and 3/28 lie on 3-cycles for T3 .
(d) Show that if x0 (1/3, 2/3) then T3n (x0 ) as n . Show that the same is true if
x0 (1/9, 2/9) or x0 (7/9, 8/9).
(e) Let = {x0 [0, 1] : T3n (x0 ) [0, 1] for all n}. Prove that is equal to the Cantor middlethirds set discussed in lectures.
(f) Suppose that x has ternary expansion 0.a1 a2 a3 . . .. What is the ternary expansion of
T3 (x)?

c LSE 2011 / MA303

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