Introduction to the solution of polynomial systems (Q880210)

Solutions of systems of linear equations play an essential role in different fields of applied and pure Mathematics. There are rather satisfactory methods in order to solve them by numerical methods as well as theoretical insights. More recently, there are strong efforts for solving polynomial equations in several variables that appear in problems of applied sciences and also in theoretical aspects, for instance molecular modeling, robotics, computer vision, algorithmic geometry and others. A big breakthrough in order to handle them was the discovery of Gröbner bases and the implementation of their algorithms in several packages of Computer Algebra Systems. Besides of this general tool there is also a permanent interest for solving and understanding systems of polynomial equations with other methods, like resultants, eigenvectors of companion matrices etc. The book under review, the 59th volume of the series Mathématiques and Applications edited by the Société de Mathématiques Appliquées et Industrielles (SMAI), is devoted to a systematic study of the solutions of polynomial equations in various aspects. The general purpose of this series is to introduce engineers and applied scientists to aspects of theoretical concepts and their applications. The contents of the present volume introduces a potential reader to methods of commutative algebra, algebraic geometry and analysis. For the reader it requires some good knowledge about the material, or -- at least -- the ability to study its theoretical aspects carefully. The material of the book is presented in 10 Chapters. The first three chapters, entitled ``Equations, Ideals, Varieties'', ``Calculations in Quotient Algebras'', and ``Dimension and Degree of an Algebraic Variety'' present a short introduction to systems of polynomial equations, their zero sets, projective varieties, primary decomposition, dimension theory, the notion of degree, as well as an introduction to the algorithmic bases of computational commutative algebra and algebraic geometry, i.e. the Gröbner bases. These topics are with different approaches the content of a whole book. Here it covers a quarter of it. So this summary is rather sketchy and requires some additional information from various references given in the text. There are some minor gaps. For instance the proof of the Noether Normalization Theorem given in 3.22 works in this form only for infinite basic fields. The next three chapters, entitled ``Zero-dimensional Algebras'', ``Theory of Resultants'', and ``Applications of Resultants'' are devoted to the study of zero-dimensional quotients of a polynomial ring in one or several variables by an ideal. In the first of them there is an intensive study of the zero-dimensional \(K\)-algebra \(K[\underline{x}] I, K\) a field and \(I\subset K[\underline{x}]\) an ideal, by means of the determination of the zero-set \(V(I),\) their multiplicities etc. Furthermore, there is an introduction to the resultants in one and several variables as well as resultants in projective \(n\)-space and toric resultants. Finally there is a chapter about the applications of resultants, among them the intersection of two plane curves and the implication theorem. The Chapters 7 ``Duality'' and 8 ``Gorenstein algebras'' cover the theory of inverse systems and their explicit description by the dual of the polynomial ring starting with its basics as invented by [\textit{F. S. Macaulay}, The Algebraic Theory of Modular Systems (1916; JFM 46.0167.01)]. As a main sample of a Gorenstein algebra complete intersection algebras are investigated. The final two chapters ``Algebraic Residues'' and ``Calculus of Residues and Applications'' give a short condensed introduction to residues with a view towards their computational aspects. Each chapter is completed by a series of exercises. They complete and extend the examples of the chapter in different directions. Some of them are easy to solve. Others require some additional reading. Some times they are beyond of the scope of the book. For instance exercise 3.10 is concerned with the proof of the ``snake lemma'' of homological algebra. All together the book describes 30 algorithms of computational algebra in pseudo code. How to use the book? First of all it gives people who want to learn some principles of the solution of systems of polynomial equations a guide to the subject and hints how to understand the basic algorithms. On the other hand one might use the book as a complement of a certain course on algebraic geometry or commuatative algebra for computational problems. The themes of the book include advanced topics of computational mathematics like effective Nullstellensatz, estimates of Lojasiewicz exponents, inversions of polynomial maps and others which are not yet available in textbooks. For beginners it could be helpful to be prepared with some basics of a textbook like [\textit{D. Cox, J. Little, D. O'Shea}, Ideals, varieties, and algorithms. An introduction to computational algebraic geometry and commutative algebra. 3rd ed. Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics. (2007; Zbl 1118.13001)]. In any case it might be used for a practitioner to become familiar with the power of parts of ``pure Mathematics'' in applied fields.