On the geometry of paths generated by PL homotopy methods (Q2641223)

PL (piecewise linear) homotopy methods are effective numerical methods for highly nonlinear problems. Complementary pivoting is the basic procedure of the methods. This paper discusses in detail the geometric structure of the methods and shows that the paths generated by the pivoting are simple paths of dimension two. Thus the discussion sets up in some sense the absolute feasibility of the PL homotopy methods.