You are on page 1of 5

Dynamical Models of Love http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pubs/paper277.

htm

Dynamical Models of Love


J. C. Sprott
Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison

ABSTRACT
Following a suggestion of Strogatz, this paper examines a sequence of dynamical models involving coupled
ordinary differential equations describing the time-variation of the love or hate displayed by individuals in a
romantic relationship. The models start with a linear system of two individuals and advance to love triangles
and finally to include the effect of nonlinearities, which are shown to produce chaos.

Ref: J. C. Sprott, Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences 8, 303-314 (2004).

The complete paper is available in PDF format.

Return to Sprott's Books and Publications.

Fig 1. Dynamics in the vicinity of an equilibrium point in two dimensions from Eq. 1.

1 of 5 3/22/2010 2:49 PM
Dynamical Models of Love http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pubs/paper277.htm

Fig. 2. One solution of the linear love triangle in Eq. 3.

2 of 5 3/22/2010 2:49 PM
Dynamical Models of Love http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pubs/paper277.htm

Fig. 3. One solution of the nonlinear Romeo-Juliet dynamic in Eq. 4.

3 of 5 3/22/2010 2:49 PM
Dynamical Models of Love http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pubs/paper277.htm

Fig. 4. Strange attractor from the nonlinear love triangle in Eq. 5.

4 of 5 3/22/2010 2:49 PM
Dynamical Models of Love http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pubs/paper277.htm

Fig. 5. Chaotic evolution of Romeo's love for Juliet from Eq. 5 showing the effect of changing the initial
conditions by 1%.

5 of 5 3/22/2010 2:49 PM

You might also like