The dynamics of marginal equilibria (Q1101758)

The problem is studied of overall convergence of a dynamical system defined by one-dimensional minimum seeking processes. It has been proved that for smooth data the sequence of marginal minima converges to an overall minimum. If, however, the data are not smooth, the sequence may converge to the so-called trapping points. The structure of trapping points is analyzed in detail for continuous, convex and nicely approximable data. Applications are suggested in estimation theory and economics.