Iterated functions
Given a mapping f from a set X into itself,
a point x in X is called periodic point if there exists an n so that
where fn is the nth iterate of f. The smallest positive integer n satisfying the above is called the prime period or least period of the point x. If every point in X is a periodic point with the same period n, then f is called periodic with period n (this is not to be confused with the notion of a periodic function).
If there exist distinct n and m such that
then x is called a preperiodic point. All periodic points are preperiodic.
If f is a diffeomorphism of a differentiable manifold, so that the derivative 
is defined, then one says that a periodic point is hyperbolic if
that it is attractive if
and it is repelling if
If the dimension of the stable manifold of a periodic point or fixed point is zero, the point is called a source; if the dimension of its unstable manifold is zero, it is called a sink; and if both the stable and unstable manifold have nonzero dimension, it is called a saddle or saddle point.
Examples
A period-one point is called a fixed point.
The logistic map
exhibits periodicity for various values of the parameter r. For r between 0 and 1, 0 is the sole periodic point, with period 1 (giving the sequence 0, 0, 0, …, which attracts all orbits). For r between 1 and 3, the value 0 is still periodic but is not attracting, while the value 
is an attracting periodic point of period 1. With r greater than 3 but less than 
there are a pair of period-2 points which together form an attracting sequence, as well as the non-attracting period-1 points 0 and 
As the value of parameter r rises toward 4, there arise groups of periodic points with any positive integer for the period; for some values of r one of these repeating sequences is attracting while for others none of them are (with almost all orbits being chaotic).
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The dyadic transformation is the mapping
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