This book contains the lectures given at the Conference on Dynamics and
Randomness held at the Centro de Modelamiento Matematico of the
Universidad de Chile from December 11th to 15th, 2000. This meeting
brought together mathematicians, theoretical physicists and theoretical
computer scientists, and graduate students interested in fields re-
lated to probability theory, ergodic theory, symbolic and topological
dynam- ics. We would like to express our gratitude to all the
participants of the con- ference and to the people who contributed to
its organization. In particular, to Pierre Collet, Bernard Host and Mike
Keane for their scientific advise. VVe want to thank especially the
authors of each chapter for their well- prepared manuscripts and the
stimulating conferences they gave at Santiago. We are also indebted to
our sponsors and supporting institutions, whose interest and help was
essential to organize this meeting: ECOS-CONICYT, FONDAP Program in
Applied Mathematics, French Cooperation, Fundacion Andes, Presidential
Fellowship and Universidad de Chile. We are grateful to Ms. Gladys
Cavallone for their excellent work during the preparation of the meeting
as well as for the considerable task of unifying the typography of the
different chapters of this book.