We study the algorithmic complexity of motions in classical polygonal billiards, which, as the number of sides increases, tend to curved billiards, both regular and chaotic. This study unveils the equivalence of this problem to the procedure of quantization: the average complexity of symbolic trajectories in polygonal billiards features the same scaling relations (with respect to the number of sides) that govern quantum systems when a semiclassical parameter is varied. Two cases, the polygonal approximations of the circle and of the stadium, are examined in detail and are presented as paradigms of quantization of integrable and chaotic systems.

• Received 17 May 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.61.6434