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  "body": "\n## Summary\n\nAn attractor of a dynamical system is an [[invariant set|WWZTW11664]] towards which all nearby states evolve.\nIt describes what one actually observes after a long time, since transients die out and the state settles near the attractor.\nAttractors can be single points, closed orbits, tori, or sets with fractal structure, the [[strange attractors|9WKCZGG906]].\nSeveral precise definitions are in use; they agree on simple examples and differ in how they treat attraction and indecomposability.\nThe [[global attractor|4SH2ZB984E]] of a dissipative system is a related notion that attracts every bounded set.\n\n## Explanations\n\n### L1 human\n\nDrop a marble into a bowl: wherever it starts, it rolls down and comes to rest at the bottom.\nThe bottom of the bowl is an attractor of the motion.\nA swinging pendulum with friction is attracted to the resting position, while a pendulum clock with a driving spring settles into a steady swing, an attracting closed loop.\nFor the map $x \\mapsto x/2$ on the real line, every orbit tends to $0$, so $\\set{0}$ is an attractor.\n",
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