An asymptotic expansion is a series that provides a sequence of increasingly accurate approximations to a function in a particular limit. The formal definition, given by Poincare (1886, Acta Math. 8:295), is as follows. Given a function,

The proceedings of a January 1991 workshop in La Jolla, California, at which mathematicians, physicists, and engineers from 12 countries gathered to exchange information on the new problems in their various fields that require asymptotics beyond all orders, and the several apparently unrelated metho