Catastrophe theory is a fascinating area of mathematics which was developed in the early 1960’s by René Thom. The word catastrophe refers to an unexpected disastrous event. A sudden discontinuity in a slowly and continuously changing environment overthrows the existing order. Catastrophe theory has an unusually wide range of applications, which includes not only the natural sciences and engineering fields, but also the humanities.
This book is different from most books on catastrophe theory and that in significant ways. The main strength of the book is just what the authors say it is – It [is] a book written with the goal of presenting behind catastrophe theory and that accomplished.
This book contains a direct proof of Thom’s famous classification theorems for the elementary catatrophes and for stable unfoldings: Numerous examples and exercises as well as many illustrations, enhance the understanding and readability of catastrophe theory.