The Lorenz chaotic attractor was discovered by Edward Lorenz in 1963 when he was investigating a simplified model of atmospheric convection. It is a nonlinear system of three differential equations. The program "lorenzgui" studies this model.

The classic Lotka-Volterra model of predator-prey competition is a nonlinear system of two equations, where one species grows exponentially and the other decays exponentially in the absence of the other. The program "predprey" studies this model.

Throw a rectangular box with sides of three different lengths into the air. You can get the box to tumble stably about its longest axis or its shortest axis. But if you try to make it tumble about it middle axis, you will find the motion is unstable.