A simplified algorithm for the topological entropy of multimodal maps

Abstract

A numerical algorithm to compute the topological entropy of multimodal maps is proposed. This algorithm results from a closed formula containing the so-called min-max symbols, which are closely related to the kneading symbols. Furthermore, it simplifies a previous algorithm, also based on min-max symbols, which was originally proposed for twice differentiable multimodal maps. The new algorithm has been benchmarked against the old one with a number of multimodal maps, the results being reported in the paper. In particular, the comparison is favorable to the new algorithm, except in the unimodal case.