FIXED POINT
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1287 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
The terminal point of a trajectory in the state space of a system (J. CRUTCHFIELD et al, 1989, p.41).
CRUTCHFIELD et al explain: “… this fixed point is an attractor… Any system that comes to rest with the passage of time can be characterized by a fixed point in state space. This is an example of a very general phenomenon, where losses due to friction or viscosity, for example, cause orbits to be attracted to a smaller region of the state space with lower dimension” (Ibid).
In fact, the fixed point is generally the final state of the system, when it undergoes no more transformations (as for example a physical system, like the pendulum) or is not anymore a system (as in the case of living systems). Such a final fixed point is also sometimes called a sink. However, this word also has another quite different meaning. A fixed point which attract in one direction and repels in another is called a saddle. A point of origin is a source.