280 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SYSTEMS, MAN, AND CYBERNETICS, VOL.
5, sAy 1980
Book Reeviews
Nonlinear Control Systems: Some Practical Methods-Kuang-Wei Han
(Santa Clara, CA: Academic Cultural Company, 1977, 294 pp.). Re-
viewed by Wai-Kai Chen, Department of Electrical Engineering, Clippinger
Hall, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701.
As the title implies, the book presents some practical methods for the
analysis and design of nonlinear control systems. It treats the traditional
topics without the excessive mathematical sophistication and abstract-
ness which have been so commonplace in the past twenty years or so.
Such a trend is certainly welcome.
The book has seventeen chapters and six appendixes and is essentially
a collection of twenty papers written by the author and his co-authors,
each corresponding to a chapter or an appendix. The prerequisite re-
quired is the usual undergraduate basic courses on control theory.
Readers who are interested in the applications of nonlinear control
theory should find this book satisfying.
The first four chapters discuss the root-locus technique and the
parameter method and their applications to the missile control systems.
The next nine chapters are devoted to the study of nonlinear systems of
multiple and complex nonlinearities, with emphasis being placed on the
aerospace problems. The remaining four chapters deal with the discon-
tinuous systems and an introduction of the integration method for the
generating Lyapunov functions. Finally, the six appendixes give a general
introduction to nonlinear control systems, the phase-plane method, the
describing function method and its limitations, and the second method
of Lyapunov and the Popov method. As intended by the author, in order
to keep the chapters more or less independent, some of the material
presented in one place are duplicated elsewhere.
The style of the presentation is such that, at the beginning of each
chapter, a minimal amount of theory is introduced. This is then followed
by numerous examples with detailed solutions. Thus, no formal proofs
are given for many of the theorems and claims. The appendixes provide
the necessary introductory material for the text. As a textbook, it is
pedagogically advantageous to integrate this introductory material into
the main text rather than lump it at the end. Problems for each chapter
are listed at the end of the book. They are disappointingly few in number
but should prove to be useful in helping the reader grasp the subject
matters. In all there are 37 problems.
On the whole, the book is useful for those practicing engineers who
wish to know how theory solves problems. It is also appropriate as a
supplementary text on nonlinear control theory for seniors and/or first-
year graduate students.
Operations Research-K. Swarup, P. K. Gupta, and M. Mohan (New
Delhi: Sultan Chand & Sons, 1978, 2nd ed., 869 pp.). Reviewed by G.
Gopalakrishnan Nair, Department of Mathematics, College of Engineering,
Trivandrum.
This book is the second edition of the authors' book Operations
Research published in 1977. The earlier edition has been thoroughly
revised by adding new material and by rewriting the theoretical discus-
sions. Almost all the management techniques that are in use today are
included in this book. In the twenty-four chapters and the two appen-
dices, the authors provided a good introduction to the theory, tech-
niques, and the applications of the various topics which come under the
branch of study known as operations research.
In Chapter I they have presented some results in linear algebra,
probability and statistics, required to understand the subject matter
SMC-l0, NO.
developed in the subsequent chapters. In the next four chapters, the
theory and applications of linear programming is presented. The simplex
method, the revised simplex method and the duality problem in linear
programming are presented in great detail. Sensitivity analysis and
parametric programming are presented in the next two chapters. Then a
brief introduction to game theory is given. The next two chapters
provide a detailed discussion of transportation, assignment, and routing
problems. In Chapter 11 some aspects of the integer programming
problem are presented. They then give a very brief outline of dynamic
programming. The principle of optimality is explained and it is shown
how a linear programming problem can be solved using dynamic pro-
gramming. Some of the other topics discussed in the book are queueing
theory, sequencing, inventory management, program evaluation and
review technique, critical path method, and information theory.
Since a large number of topics have been discussed, in some cases the
discussions are not very elaborate. But the solved examples included in
each chapter make the book very useful for a university student. Further,
the authors have taken care to present a list of one hundred and four
references for the benefit of those who are interested in studying any of
the topics in greater detail.
Optimization Theory and Applications S. S. Rao (New Delhi: Wiley
Eastern Ltd., 1978, 711 pp.). Reviewed by R. C. Desai, Faculty of
Technology & Engineering, M.S. University, Vadodara 390001, India.
In design, construction, and operation of any system, engineers and
scientists have to make technological and operational decisions. The
ultimate objective of all such decisions is either to minimize the effort
required or to maximize the desired benefit; and this can be realized by
using optimization techniques. A number of books are available on this
subject, but most of these discuss theoretical aspects of only a few of the
optimization techniques, with varying emphasis. There has been a long-
felt need for a text book which gives a comprehensive idea about the
various optimization techniques and their practical applications to en-
gineering problems. Dr. Rao has done an excellent job in providing a
book which fulfills this need.
The various optimization techniques discussed include most of the
mathematical programming techniques of operations research such as:
calculus methods, calculus of variations, nonlinear programming, geo-
metric programming, quadratic programming, linear programming, dy-
namic programming, integer programming, stochastic programming, crit-
ical path methods or program evaluation and review techniques, and
game theory. Stochastic process technique and statistical methods are
the only areas left out of the book to complete the list of operations
research techniques exhaustively. This book will thus serve as an im-
portant source of information for operations research, as well as systems
engineering. It will doubtlessly be considered a very good textbook, for
each new concept is illustrated by a complete numerical example.
Management Applications of System Theory C. V. Negoita (Basel:
Birkhiuser Verlag, 1979, 154 pp.). Reviewed by Dan Ralescu, Department
of Mathematics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405.
At first sight, this book (vol. 57 in "Interdisciplinary Systems Re-
search," a series edited by S. Klaczko) seems to be a usual textbook
devoted to introducing the theory of discrete systems to students in