/ 98 06 02 5 v 1 2 3 Ju n 19 98 Applied Symbolic Dynamics ∗

Symbolic dynamics is a coarse-grained description of dynamics. By taking into account the " geometry " of the dynamics, it can be cast into a powerful tool for practitioners in nonlinear science. Detailed symbolic dynamics can be developed not only for one-dimensional mappings, unimodal as well as those with multiple critical points and discontinuities, but also for some two-dimensional mappings. The latter paves the way for symbolic dynamics study of ordinary differential equations via the Poincaré maps. This paper provides an overview of the recent development of the applied aspects of symbolic dynamics. PACS. 05.45 + b Chaotic phenomena.