Publisher's Synopsis
This book is an attempt to present much of the necessary mathematical background needed to study the modern developments in linear and nonlinear system theory in a way in which will be more acceptable to the nonmathematician. The first six chapters concern those algebraic topics which have been instrumental in the establishment of linear system theory. These topics include groups, rings, modules and vector spaces. The last five chapters deal with those parts of analysis which lead to a geometric approach to nonlinear system theory that has been particularly successful in yielding important results since about 1970.
