General definitions of chaos for continuous and discrete-time processes

Abstract

A precise definition of chaos for discrete processes based on iteration already exists. We shall first reformulate it in a more general frame, taking into account the fact that discrete chaotic behavior is neither necessarily based on iteration nor strictly related to compact metric spaces or to bounded functions. Then we shall apply the central idea of this definition to continuous processes. We shall try to see what chaos is, regardless of the way it is generated.