The Benedicks and Carleson theorem states that for the quadratic family there exists a set of parameters, with positive measure, for which the Lyapunov exponent is positive at the critical point. In this dissertation we present a rigorous and detailed proof of this famous result. An important part of the proof is the study of the quasi periodic behavior of a set of orbits. In addition, a large deviation argument is used to show that parameters which do not satisfy the desired property form a small set. Such techniques have an intrinsic interest, as they have proven fruitful in the study of other problems in dynamical systems. Combining Benedicks-Carlesons theorem with Singers theorem, we conclude that for a set of parameters with positive measure, the corresponding quadratic function does not admit periodic attractors, indicating its chaotic behavior. In this work we also study criteria for the positivity of the Lyapunov exponent of quasi-periodic Schrodinger cocycles, such as Hermans theorem. The study of the Schrodinger cocycles represents an important topic in mathematical physics. Moreover, some of the generalizations of such criteria use the techniques of Benedicks-Carleson.