This tutorial will show you how to create files and run XPP as well as give you a brief overview of dynamical systems.

Technical Setup

In order to run this tutorial properly, you must alter your .mailcap and .mime.types files so that the viewer knows what to do with the XPP files that are used in the tutorial. If you already have these files in your home directory, just add the lines in the two files to your existing ones. You also must be able to run XPP on your local machine. The command to call XPP must be xpp (The default compiled version is xppaut thus, you should make a link to that called xpp or just change it's name. Or, just change the xpp in the .mime.types and .mailcap files to xppaut .)

Since this tutorial takes a long time to run you might want to try it locally rather than over the network. In that case, get the compressed tarred files put them in a directory, uncompress and untar them. Then load index.html into your viewer.

How do I get XPP?

Just ftp the program from ftp.math.pitt.edu/pub/bardware and pick up xppaut1.x.tar.Z and f2clibs.tar.Z or just pick up the binary for your computer and the documentation, xpp_doc.ps.Z

Table of Contents

It is usually best to go through the various sections in order, but you can jump to any heading by clicking on it.

I. Introduction

A. Discrete Systems

B. Continuous Systems

II. Creating and running an ODE file.

Quitting and aborting a calculation

Integrating the equations

Change parameters

Graphics tricks

Examining the numbers

Fixed points and stability

III. Nonlinear ODES

Adding a nonlinear conductance
User defined functions
Auxiliary quantities
Fixed quantities
Multiple equilibria
The numerics menu explored
Creating another window
AUTO the first run through

IV. Two dimensional systems

The Reduced Morris-Lecar Equations
More Plotting Tricks
Phase plane analysis
Three-d windows and Kinescope
Hopf bifurcation
Saddle-point excitability

V. Beyond Two dimensions

References