9R17. Liapunov Functions and Stability in Control Theory. Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences 267. - A Bacciotti (Dipt di Matematica, Politecnico di Torino, Italy) and L Rosier (Lab d’ Analyze Numerique et EDP, Univ Paris 11, France). Springer-Verlag, New York. 2001. 208 pp. Softcover. ISBN 1-85233-419-3. $69.80.
Reviewed by Zongli Lin (Dept of Elec and Comput Eng, Univ of Virginia, Charlottesville VA 22903).
Systems and control theory plays an important role in the analysis and design of engineering systems such as mechanical systems. To apply systems and control theory to an engineering system, the system has to be represented by a mathematical model, typically a set of ordinary or partial differential equations. The partial differential equations may also be approximated by ordinary differential equations by, for example, the finite element method 1. Regardless of how they arise, the ordinary differential equations that model a practical system are...
