Finding limit cycles, in general, is a very difficult problem. The number of limit cycles of a polynomial differential equation in the plane is the main object of the second part of Hilbert's sixteenth problem. It is unknown, for instance, whether there is any system <math>x'=V(x)</math> in the plane where both components of <math>V</math> are quadratic polynomials of the two variables, such that the system has more than 4 limit cycles. | Finding limit cycles, in general, is a very difficult problem. The number of limit cycles of a polynomial differential equation in the plane is the main object of the second part of Hilbert's sixteenth problem. It is unknown, for instance, whether there is any system <math>x'=V(x)</math> in the plane where both components of <math>V</math> are quadratic polynomials of the two variables, such that the system has more than 4 limit cycles. |