Numeric vs. symbolic homotopy algorithms in polynomial system solving: a case study (Q2387419)

A family of systems of polynomial equations is considered, which arises in the analysis of the stationary solutions of certain discretized semi-linear parabolic differential equations. Only the positive solutions are of interest. A numerical homotopy algorithm for finding all positive solutions is presented with polynomial complexity in the number of unknown. It is shown that any universal symbolic method is likely to have a complexity which is exponential in the number of unknowns.