SIAM REVIEW

Vol. 20, No. 2, April 1978

Copyright 1978 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

BOOK REVIEWS
Downloaded 11/16/14 to 130.207.50.37. Redistribution subject to SIAM license or copyright; see http://www.siam.org/journals/ojsa.php

EDITED BY ARTHUR WOUK

Publishers are invited to send books for review to Professor Arthur Wouk, Department of Computing
Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G1.

Bifurcation Problems in Nonlinear Elasticity. By R. W. DICKEY. Pitman Publishing Ltd.,

London, England. 1976. 119 pp., $6.90.
This book examines a number of bifurcation problems for nonlinear ordinary
differential equations that arise in nonlinear elasticity. An introductory chapter outlines
the necessary background in mathematics. The succeeding chapters give accounts of the
work of R. W. Dickey on extensible strings, of A. Callegari, H. B. Keller, and E. L.
Reiss on circular membranes, of I. Kolodner on rotating chains, of H. B. Keller and D.
S. Cohen on positive solutions of nonlinear equations (specialized to ordinary differen-
tial equations), of J. B. Keller on the application of the Poincar6 shooting method to the
elastica, and of J. H. Wolkowisky on the circular plate. Derivations of the governing
equations are not given; the variables are merely identified.
These problems are treated by the clever application of classical methods of
analysis (made feasible by the absence of partial derivatives). While a number of these
problems are not of central scientific importance, they are all of great beauty. Their
simplicity and beauty enable this book to provide an easy and pleasant entr6e into the
field.
STUART S. ANTMAN
University of Maryland

Introduction to the Theory of Fuzzy Subsets, Vol. 1. By A. KAUFMANN. Academic Press,

New York, 1975. xvi+416 pp., $22.50.
This is a truly disappointing volume. Although it is carefully written at a level that
any undergraduate with basic mathematical training can understand and has lots of
examples, it seems to me devoid of mathematical interest, q-he volume is subtitled
Fundamental Theoretical Elements and applications are promised in later volumes. But
without these applications, it will be hard to see why the material should be of interest,
especially since the mathematical development is so slow that 400 pages are devoted to
material that could be presented in less than 100.
The book has five chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the basic definitions; Chapter 2
looks at fuzzy graphs and fuzzy relations; Chapter 3 presents fuzzy switching theory;
Chapter 4 presents fuzzy groupoids; while Chapter 5 generalizes fuzzy sets to the case in
which values are taken in some suitable structure such as a lattice, rather than only in the
closed interval [0, 1]. If the material in Chapter 5 had been merged into the material in
Chapter 1, the level of mathematical interest might have been somewhat higher, and the
book considerably shorter. The material in Chapters 2 and 4 does not seem to have any
intrinsic mathematical interest, and can, with only little unkindness, be caricatured as
taking some simple concept, introducing graded membership where possible, and then
proving the obvious generalization of a well-known and elementary theorem. Chapter 3
concentrates on the construction of switching circuits that yield fuzzy functions whose
values lie in some pre-specified intervalyet the introduction to the chapter makes the
grandiose claim: "When software constructed with respect to a fuzzy logic becomes
operational and when fuzzy hardware becomes industrially possible, then lnan-machine
402
 BOOK REVIEWS 403

communication will be much more convenient, rapid, and better adapted to the solution
of problems." The indulgence in such delusions, completely unsupported by the
Downloaded 11/16/14 to 130.207.50.37. Redistribution subject to SIAM license or copyright; see http://www.siam.org/journals/ojsa.php

mathematical theory that constitutes the chapter, does not bode well for the contents of
the subsequent volumes of this series. The applied mathematician wishing to find a
convenient introduction to fuzzy sets is advised to turn to the volume Applications o[
Fuzzy Sets to Systems Analysis by C. V. Negoit and D. A. Ralescu, Halsted Press,
1975revised and translated from the Romanian edition of 1974. In its 191 pages it
packs far more information than the Kaufmann volume, and seems better both in terms
of the range of applications and the level of the mathematics.
MICHAEL A. ARBIB
University of Massachusetts

Introduction to the Theory of Infinitesimals. By J. D. STROYAN and W. A. J. LUXEM-

BURG. Academic Press, New York, 1976. xii + 326 pp., $24.50.
This book develops the theory of infinitesimals, or nonstandard analysis, a theory
due in large part to A. Robinson and one which has grown rapidly since its origin in
1961. The first goal of the theory is to imbed the real numbers in a larger system which
has the same algebra and order relation but contains infinitesimals: numbers e such that
0 < ne < 1 for every positive integer n. With this goal achieved, one is able to develop
the calculus rigorously along the lines of the long-disparaged methods of Leibniz. In
fact, as shown in the present book, one can reconstruct all of analysis in the language of
infinitesimals. On the one hand this provides a new insight into many subtle limit
processes and often simplifies and shortens proofs. On the other, it provides new ways
of attacking old problems, such as that of existence of invariant subspaces for operators
in Hilbert space (see A. R. Bernstein in Studies in Model Theory, Mathematical
Association of America, Washington, DC, 1973, pp. 35-58).
The present work presents a complete exposition of the theory and of many of its
ramifications. The development relies heavily on tools of modern logic and set theory; it
is not easy, despite the efforts of the authors to give simple examples. After developing
the calculus with infinitesimals through calculus on manifolds, they prove the Peano
existence theorem for differential equations, give a discussion of dynamical systems,
and with the aid of more abstract model theory turn to topology, questions of
compactification, topics in analytic functions including boundary behavior, almost
periodic functions, Banach spaces, distributions, and other branches of analysis.
WILFRED KAPLAN
University of Michigan

Dynamic Programming and Stochastic Control. By DIMITRI P. BERTSEKAS. Academic

Press, New York, 1976. xiv + 397 pp., $22.50.
This new text is composed of eight chapters. The first chapter contains introductory
material and the remaining seven chapters are grouped into two parts" I. Control of
uncertain systems over a finite horizon, and II. Control of uncertain systems over an
infinite horizon.
The text is intended for use as an introductory graduate course and presumes that
the reader has had prior exposure to basic probability and optimization theory in
addition to the standard undergraduate mathematics courses (calculus, analysis, and
linear algebra). These basic prerequisites are briefly summarized in four appendices at
the end of the text.