Abstract
The simple pendulum is a paradigm in the study of oscillations and other phenomena in physics and nonlinear
dynamics. This explains why it has deserved much attention, from many viewpoints, for a long time. Here, we attempt
to describe what we call a generalized perturbed pendulum, which comprises, in a single model, many known situations
related to pendulam, including different forcing and nonlinear damping terms. Melnikov analysis is applied to this model,
with the result of general formulae for the appearance of chaotic motions that incorporate several particular cases.
In this sense, we give a unified view of the pendulum.
2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.