Over the past fifteen years two new techniques have yielded extremely important contributions toward the numerical solution of nonlinear systems of equations. This book provides an introduction to and an up-to-date survey of numerical continuation methods (tracing of implicitly defined curves) of both predictor-corrector and piecewise-linear types. It presents and analyzes implementations aimed at applications to the computation of zero points, fixed points, nonlinear eigenvalue problems, bifurcation and turning points, and economic equilibria. Many algorithms are presented in a pseudo code format. An appendix supplies five sample FORTRAN programs with numerical examples, which readers can adapt to fit their purposes, and a description of the program package SCOUT for analyzing nonlinear problems via piecewise-linear methods. An extensive up-to-date bibliography spanning 46 pages is included. The material in this book has been presented to students of mathematics, engineering and sciences with great success, and will also serve as a valuable tool for researchers in the field.

Numerical continuation methods have provided important contributions toward the numerical solution of nonlinear systems of equations for many years. The methods may be used not only to compute solutions, which might otherwise be hard to obtain, but also to gain insight into qualitative properties of the solutions. Introduction to Numerical Continuation Methods, originally published in 1979, was the first book to provide easy access to the numerical aspects of predictor corrector continuation and piecewise linear continuation methods. Not only do these seemingly distinct methods share many common features and general principles, they can be numerically implemented in similar ways. Introduction to Numerical Continuation Methods also features the piecewise linear approximation of implicitly defined surfaces, the algorithms of which are frequently used in computer graphics, mesh generation, and the evaluation of surface integrals. To help potential users of numerical continuation methods create programs adapted to their particular needs, this book presents pseudo-codes and Fortran codes as illustrations. Since it first appeared, many specialized packages for treating such varied problems as bifurcation, polynomial systems, eigenvalues, economic equilibria, optimization, and the approximation of manifolds have been written. The original extensive bibliography has been updated in the SIAM Classics edition to include more recent references and several URLs so users can look for codes to suit their needs or write their own based on the models included in the book.