A note on the order of contact between sets in the complex plane (Q1378652)

In the stability analysis of numerical methods for solving initial value problems the following problem is encountered: to determine a (small) value \(p\) such that \(U = \{\phi (x) : x \in X\}\) has contact of order \(p\) with \(V = \{\phi (y) : y \in Y\}\) at the point \(\xi_0\) (this notion is defined in the paper). Here \(\phi\) is a given rational function (the so-called stability function of the corresponding numerical method), \(X\) and \(Y\) are sets lying in the complex plane \(\mathbb{C}\) which contain no poles of \(\phi\), and \(\xi_0 \in\mathbb{C}\). The basic properties of the order concept are presented. Under suitable assumptions on \(X\), \(Y\) and \(\phi\), the main result provides an appropriate expression for \(p\) for the above mentioned problem.