autonomous system (mathematics)

In mathematics, an autonomous system or autonomous differential equation is a system of ordinary differential equations which does not depend on the independent variable. Many laws in physics, where the independent variable is usually assumed to be time, are expressed as autonomous systems because it is assumed the laws of nature which hold now are identical to those for any point in the past or future.Autonomous systems are closely related to dynamical systems. Any autonomous system can be transformed into a dynamical system and, using very weak assumptions, a dynamical system can be transformed into an autonomous systems.
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