Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/ii/paper-1/32a/a/solution

Let be an equilibrium point of a dynamical system. A Lyapunov function on a neighbourhood of is a continuously differentiable function such that
and whose derivative along trajectories satisfies
The First Lyapunov theorem says that the existence of such a positive-definite proves Lyapunov stability of . If away from , the Second Lyapunov theorem strengthens this to asymptotic stability.
LaSalle invariance principle says that if a trajectory remains in a compact positively invariant set on which , then it approaches the largest invariant subset of
In particular, if that largest invariant subset consists only of , every trajectory in approaches .

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