Poincaré surface of section

Poincaré surface of section

[‚pwän‚kä′rā ′sər·fəs əv ′sek·shən]

(mechanics)

A method of displaying the character of a particular trajectory without examining its complete time development, in which the trajectory is sampled periodically, and the rate of change of a quantity under study is plotted against the value of that quantity at the beginning of each period. Also known as surface of section.