A Simple Nonlinear Circuit Contains an Infinite Number of Functions

Abstract

The complex dynamics of a simple nonlinear circuit contains an infinite number of functions. Specifically, this brief shows that the number of different functions that a nonlinear or chaotic circuit can implement exponentially increases as the circuit evolves in time, and this exponential increase is quantified with an exponent that is named the computing exponent. This brief argues that a simple nonlinear circuit that illustrates rich complex dynamics can embody infinitely many different functions, each of which can be dynamically selected. In practice, not all of these functions may be accessible due to factors such as noise or instability of the functions. However, these infinitely many functions do exist within the dynamics of the nonlinear circuit regardless of accessibility or inaccessibility of the functions in practice. This nonlinear-dynamics-based approach to computation opens the door for implementing extremely slim low-power circuits that are capable of performing many different types of functions.