» BOOKSHELF
Mimicry and Matrices
T
his month we bring you reviews of two books. The first
book, Biomimicry for Optimization, Control, and Automa-
tion by Passino, presents an innovative approach to teaching
control concepts, with motivation from the biological world.
The reviewer considers both the pedagogical and scientific
aspects of this text. The second book, Matrix Mathematics:
Theory, Facts, and Formulas with Application to Linear Sys-
tems Theory by Bernstein, is an encyclopedic reference work
on matrices. The reviewer discusses the central role that
matrices play in systems and control theory as well as the
unique features of this text.
My goal is to make this column as inclusive as possible,
covering everything from research monographs and text-
books, to popular books. I encourage suggestions for books
to be reviewed as well as volunteers to review books.
Scott R. Ploen
Scott.R.Ploen@jpl.nasa.gov
Biomimicry for
Optimization, Control,
and Automation
BY KEVIN M. PASSINO
“Why is the temperature in this
room comfortable?” I ask my
class of 210 sophomores. My
attempt to enliven an introduc-
tion to feedback loops is met
Springer, 2004 with dead silence. No one
US$99.00 smiles appreciatively at the
ISBN: 1-85233-804-0 answer: heat if too cold, chill if
too hot. Instead, says Kevin
Passino, show a photograph of a desert locust plague, and
ask the class how 40 million locusts can fly in a dense
swarm over a square kilometer without colliding. The
basic answer is the same: move away if too close, move
closer if too far. Now my class is buzzing; the students are
lively and engaged. Such is the pedagogical premise of
Kevin Passino’s new book Biomimicry for Optimization, Con-
trol, and Automation. Don't ask how to predictively control
a gas furnace, ask how a cheetah can predictively stalk its
prey. As Passino observes: “The analogies are found to be
fun by many students and control engineers!” [p. 88].
In this fashion, Passino entices his readers to explore
many leading techniques of intelligent control, such as
neural networks, evolutionary adaptive control, and genetic
algorithms. Alongside these unconventional techniques is
86 IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE » AUGUST 2006
a surprisingly wide coverage of classical techniques,
including numerical simulation methods, gradient and
nongradient search algorithms, and lots of stability analy-
sis. Classical applications are also included; the gas fur-
nace is here after all [pp. 465–466], as is the
much-maligned thermostat [pp. 10–11].
The book excels in teaching these intelligent and clas-
sical control techniques. The biology provides lively,
interesting questions; the writing is exceptionally clear
and direct; there are many figures and examples; the
design problems are terrific; and the MATLAB code lets
you readily reproduce the examples and start working
on the problems.
As good as the exposition of control techniques is,
even better is the teaching of control principles. The book
is superb at explaining fundamental concepts such as
time-scale structure, system stability, overly fine control,
and averaging. Students who learn from this book will
remember these principles for a long time.
One book cannot do the work of three. This book
would not be effective as a textbook on optimization.
Although there is plenty of coverage of techniques for
finding a local optimizer of a nonlinear function, optimiza-
tion topics are not well represented. Much of what is pre-
sent is more about learning than about optimization per se.
Likewise, the book cannot be used either to learn bio-
mimicry or as a source of biomimetic examples.
In the final chapter, Passino poses a broad class of
automation challenges that loosely conform to the metaphor
of group foraging, that is, the collective detection and acqui-
sition from the environs of a resource such as food, by a
group of animals. This class includes many important
unsolved problems in robot and vehicle fleet coordination
and control. A true biomimetic approach to these challenges
may advance the design of multifunction, multilevel, dis-
tributed, and robust automated control systems.
APPROACH
This text is an engineer’s book. Passino assembles dis-
parate methods and topics into a coherent whole from a
strict engineering point of view. The goal is to achieve ver-
ifiable high levels of autonomy; any other consideration is
subservient to this engineering goal. Thus for Passino there
is no conflict between intelligent and conventional control
and no fundamental difference between a cheetah tracking
a rabbit and a missile tracking an airplane.
Passino employs a wide variety of expository and
pedagogical techniques. Biology is both a source of inter-
esting problems, such as tracking and flocking, and a
source of inspiration for solution techniques, such as
1066-033X/06/$20.00©2006IEEE
neural networks and genetic algorithms. Passino advises
that we should not worry if the biological metaphor
breaks down or the biology isn’t really known, as long as
the end result is a stable autonomous system. Whenever
Passino chooses between good engineering and good sci-
ence, he chooses the former.
There are illustrations of nearly every problem and
method and more than 350 figures. Most of these examples
can be reproduced readily with the MATLAB code that
accompanies the text. I observed that the pointer given in
the book to access the code was not active; instead go to
Passino’s Web page at http://www.ece.osu.edu/∼passino
and follow the link to his book. Several interesting prob-
lem scenarios including hunter-prey, tanker ship steering,
and foraging are woven throughout the text.
The writing style is exceptionally clear and direct. I
particularly liked the tracking, fuzzy control, and
nongradient optimization portions, but the entire book is
praiseworthy for its lucid prose. The exposition is at a
junior or senior undergraduate level, assuming familiarity
with calculus, elementary linear algebra, the Gaussian dis-
tribution, and with ordinary differential equations. Here
my list differs from the author’s. Occasionally, such as in
Section 18.4 on swarm stability, Passino assumes a more
advanced level of mathematics. In the preface, Passino
states that a course on classical control and perhaps an
additional course on adaptive control are also necessary
prerequisites. However, I found the motivations, deriva-
tions, examples, and explanations to be self-contained, so
that a mature student with MATLAB skills could do with-
out such a prerequisite. The level of difficulty of the home-
work problems is a notch above the level of exposition.
Two kinds of homework questions are given, namely,
exercises and design problems. Questions are often pro-
gressively more difficult, and, in general, chapters contain
at most one exercise per concept, which I doubt is a suffi-
cient quantity for undergraduates. The design problems
are excellent; they are both intriguing and sufficiently chal-
lenging for graduate students. Unfortunately, these prob-
lems, and even some of the exercises, may be too
open-ended for the average undergraduate.
The book strongly encourages active learning. The
MATLAB code enables readers to jump right in and get
their hands dirty with the appealing problems. Obviously,
Passino has taught this material often and has found peda-
gogical value in posing simulation problems like foraging,
predation, swimming, and swarming. Besides making the
learning fun, the experimental domains are relatively easy
because they are simulated. In every chapter, Passino
exposes pitfalls of various kinds that students are likely to
encounter, ranging from numerical inaccuracies, excessive
CPU run time, system instability, appropriate data selec-
tion, to overtuning, undertraining, choice of starting point,
choice of step size, and choice of termination criteria. Like-
ly sources of trouble as well as tips for avoiding or dealing
with them are given. The pitfall explanations are a superb
backup resource for the active learner.
As a general rule, this book skips over the details of
mathematical derivations. For example, the cancellation of
all terms lower than fifth order in the Runge-Kutta method
is not discussed. Furthermore, lengthy definitions of the
conditions under which a method is valid, notably in the
section on stability analysis, and proofs of theorems, such
as Krein-Milman, are avoided. Some textbooks use most of
their pages to explain underlying theory with nonrigorous
proofs or by rigorously proving restricted versions of the
results. Not this book: it conveys a common-sense under-
standing of each technique and shows how to use it. Sec-
tion 7.5.1 is a rare exception, in which the author includes
proofs of a couple of his own results regarding the stability
of a forager-prey model.
Passino’s handling of numerical issues is also practical.
He tends to state what is true using prose rather than theo-
rems. For example, when describing numerical issues in
recursive least squares algorithms, he doesn’t define the
condition number of a matrix but rather says that trouble
can arise with the inverse when the matrix has small terms.
He explains that quasi-Newton methods are useful because
we require fast convergence without having to compute, or
guarantee the existence of, the inverse Hessian.
I must call special attention to the superb teaching of
principles of control and automation throughout the text.
Concise sidebar statements reinforce the material. Those
who work through this book will know, in their bones, the
following rules of thumb: “Overaggressive pursuit of
closed-loop objectives can require continual adjustment of
parameters that can lead to instability” [p. 401]; “predic-
tion horizon choice is difficult. Prediction too far into the
future is computationally expensive and sometimes not
useful due to plant uncertainty” [p. 257]; “specification of
gradient update formulas for cluster functions requires the
same general approach as for approximators [p. 535];
“accurate plant model estimation is not necessarily needed
to achieve good tracking performance in indirect adaptive
control” [p. 566]; “swarm optimization exploits a regional
approximation to a gradient and helps it to climb over
noise.” [p. 789].
ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICAL CONTENT
Many of the learning, planning, and control methods dis-
cussed in this book are inspired by biology. Of these “intel-
ligent control” methods, the topics covered are neural
networks, fuzzy control and functional fuzzy systems,
expert control systems, online planning with learning and
feedback, adaptive control, training function approxima-
tors, genetic algorithms, instinct-learning balance algo-
rithms, and evolutionary adaptive control. The book
covers a surprisingly large amount of classical material as
well. These topics include Lyapunov functions for stability
analysis, Euler and Runge-Kutta methods to simulate
AUGUST 2006 « IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE 87
systems of differential equations, batch and recursive least
squares methods, gradient methods including steepest
descent with Armijo step-size, conjugate gradient meth-
ods, Newton and quasi-Newton methods, response sur-
faces, and SPSA and Nelder-Mead algorithms.
As noted, Passino is careful not to overdo the mathe-
matics. Fortunately, he does not skimp on the issue of
stability. Examining a model for stability is a staple
topic all through the text. I think this emphasis is exactly
the right approach because the goal is to obtain a verifi-
able high level of autonomy, and verification requires
careful analysis.
The section on genetic algorithms is quite readable. This
section is more succinct than many books that focus on
genetic or evolutionary algorithms, yet it fully prepares
one to implement the basic algorithm. However, several
insights are omitted or misstated. The text describes the
effect of the crossover operation as perturbing parameters
near good positions [p. 624] and the effect of mutation as
jumping out of local maxima [p. 625]. In fact, the converse
is closer to the truth. Instead, the book should point out
the devastating effect constant offsets have on fitness-
proportionate selection [p. 621].
My main concern here is that the discussion fails to
sufficiently distinguish between naive uses of genetic
algorithms and the principal way genetic algorithms
can be made effective in practice. The idea is to encode
the control parameters of an algorithm and to optimize
over the space of encoded parameters, rather than over
the space of encoded solutions. The former space can
have a much smoother topology than the latter, and in
particular, crossover children in that space are far more
likely to be feasible. To my knowledge, this idea was
first discovered by R. Storer [1] and is now widely used
in artificial intelligence and elsewhere. Without this
idea, genetic algorithms are rarely competitive with
standard optimization methods.
Good uses of genetic algorithms, such as setting gains
for PID controllers and structuring a fuzzy system are
stated alongside poor uses, without distinguishing
which are which. Optimization in parameter space is
much more deeply biomimetic than optimization in solu-
tion space. Your DNA is not a homunculus. It is a formu-
la for creating your form. Changing one gene in
drosophila turns an antenna into a leg. These two forms
therefore are adjacent with respect to the DNA topology.
However, the two forms look quite different; in the mor-
phological solution space, the two forms are not close to
each other and may be separated by nonviable mor-
phologies. Speaking as a biomimeticist, I believe it is sig-
nificant that the more profoundly biomimetic algorithm
is the more effective.
The exposition of optimization is also distorted. The
author acknowledges that there are omissions in important
topics such as combinatorial optimization. However, omis-
88 IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE » AUGUST 2006
sion does not necessitate distortion. The trouble arises
principally from the treatment of learning as optimization.
In this view, given arbitrary stimulus-response data and a
particular form of the learning function, it then becomes an
optimization problem to select parameter values that best
fit the data. Solving this optimization problem is equiva-
lent to learning. In this context, learning is the embodying
into the function as much as possible from the experience
represented by the data. The functional form could be a
neural net with k hidden layers, a linear model, or some-
thing more general. Because the data are thought of as
arbitrary, the optimization problem has little structure to
work with. This view gives a distorted view of optimiza-
tion, both in terms of what typical optimization problems
are like and in terms of which optimization methods are
effective. The truth is that learning is not equivalent to
optimization, even though the former can be formulated as
the latter. No more is it true that number theory is
optimization. For example, Fermat’s last theorem can be
succinctly expressed as the following optimization prob-
lem: max n : an + bn = cn ; a, b, c, n ∈ Z.
The extreme form of this distortion is found in the no-
free-lunch theorems cited in the book, which describe
models of optimization within which essentially all algo-
rithms have equally poor performance. If such models
reflected reality, the field of algorithms and indeed most of
theoretical computer science would have no reason to
exist. However, reality is quite different. Traveling sales-
man problems can be solved ≈ 10100,000 times faster than
enumeration [2]; the ant colony shortest path optimization
method discussed in Section 18.1.3 is absurdly slower than
classical methods.
The section on game theory is riddled with omissions
and errors. Only pure strategy equilibria are discussed;
the concept of mixed strategies is never introduced.
Hence there is no mention of two-person, zero-sum von
Neumann-Morgenstern duality nor of Nash equilibrium
fixed points, which are the most fundamental theorems
of game theory. The section confuses continuous strategy
games with infinitely repeated games, while incorrectly
stating that the extensive and strategic normal forms are
not equivalent in their expressive power, the equivalence
of which was established by von Neumann and Morgen-
stern. The dynamic games of Section 19.4 are ordinary
games according to game theory, but are not according
to the text. The section omits subgame perfect equilibria
and other equilibrium refinements. Finally, the section
misleadingly states that pure strategy Nash equilibria
require cooperation.
WHY TEACH BAD SCIENCE?
Although engineers will be attracted to this book for its
style and its description of various control algorithms, the
book does not present a satisfactory treatment of modern
biology and biomimicry. The text constantly confuses
models of organisms with biological knowledge of organ-
isms, while frequently overstating the extent to which the
biology is known or understood. For example, the reader
is never urged to engage in direct observation of a real ant
colony. There are gratuitous inaccuracies and misstate-
ments. All of these aspects help to convey the wrong idea
about the nature of science. Similarly, the book presents
the concept of biomimicry in a superficial way. Bioengi-
neering is not just engineering with interesting examples.
The complex, exquisite, multifunctional systems in the
natural world offer insight into many unsolved engineer-
ing problems. Biomimicry ought not be used merely to
market material to keep engineers interested.
My major complaint is the confounding of the biology
with the models and ideas drawn from biology. Biology is
a science rooted in observation. One must differentiate
models of organisms from biological knowledge of organ-
isms. The text often asserts that a descriptive model, rather
than knowledge based on observation and measurement,
is true. Such assertions overstate the extent to which
biology is understood. For example, on page 67 we read,
“we do not yet understand everything about how the brain
operates.” What an unwitting rhetorical meiosis!
As another example, Passino claims that “animals
search for nutrients to maximize E/T” [p. 75], the rate at
which energy content is acquired. This statement is not
known to be true. In fact, we don’t know whether E/T is
maximized in general. In some cases, we know that, in a
certain sense, it is not. Indeed, we don’t really know what
optimal means in this context. Passino also asserts that
groups of animals follow simple rules to achieve complex
group behavior. “Some organisms, such as ants, actually
use simple rules to specify how to forage for food and . . .
have an emergent intelligence” [p. 885]. This claim has
not been scientifically verified. It is true that we can
sometimes replicate an aspect of group behavior by an
assemblage of points following simple rules. On the other
hand, there is plenty of evidence in many cases suggest-
ing that what the animals do is not simple at all [3]. Some
ant species can, in effect, compute planar coordinates [4]
and count to five [5].
Throughout the book, there occur various phrases or
statements that would make a biologist wince. For exam-
ple, the statement “experimental verification that an
organism is optimized is certainly difficult” [pp. 81, 82]
seems absurd to me as a scientist. Clearly, such verifica-
tion is impossible in science. We then read that “mating
and reproduction drive evolution.” Darwin proposed
that natural selection, survival, and reproduction in the
environment drive evolution. The generic term used
throughout the text to refer to a process in need of
automation is, ironically, plant.
The Baldwin effect is a much more speculative concept
in biology than one would infer from this book. Baldwin
hypothesized that an organism may increase its fitness by
learning and that the learning becomes encoded in the
organism’s genes and can be inherited by its progeny.
Only the first part of this hypothesis has been supported
by data. For evolutionary biologists, the rest of Baldwin’s
idea is obviously Lamarckian, that is, it assumes the heri-
tability of acquired traits and is not widely believed to
exist. Evolutionary algorithms seek to maximize a real-
valued function defined on the space of possible solutions
by iteratively modifying a set of solutions. The function is
called fitness, and the set is called the population. Baldwin’s
idea is mimicked in learning theory and genetic algo-
rithms, typically by training or by locally improving ele-
ments of the set at each iteration. The first part of Baldwin‘s
hypothesis corresponds to reducing the range of the func-
tion to the set of trained solutions or local optimizers,
which might smooth the function and speed global conver-
gence. However, to modify the population itself is to imi-
tate a dubitable Lamarckian process. It might work, but it
isn’t biomimicry.
The view presented of the brain [p. 62] illustrates why
the book doesn’t teach true biomimicry. Specifically, the
book provides a simplistic view of the Hebbian model that
takes the analogy with computers far too seriously. It
would be more accurate to say that learning takes place by
changes in pathways so as to inhibit or accentuate patterns
of neural firings over time. The material on learning as gra-
dient search and neural training is also misleading since
there is little evidence that this is how neurons train. From
a neurobiological perspective, the widely used Hodgkins-
Huxley model would be a better starting point.
To his credit, Passino does not think that biologically
inspired methods should be held to lower standards than
other methods. On the contrary, he subjects these methods
to classical analysis such as Lyapunov stability. Passino’s
rigorous engineering view trumps an all-too-common
view in biomimetic optimization and in artificial intelli-
gence that unconventional methods need only be com-
pared amongst themselves. In this respect, the text is
missing a reference to the first stability analysis in the for-
aging literature [6].
CHALLENGES IN BIOMIMICRY
AND AUTONOMIC CONTROL
Passino sums up his philosophy on biology and bio-
mimicry in a sidebar [p. 87]: “Exploit biomimicry for func-
tionalities and a cohesive view, get your hands dirty with
simulations and implementations, and use disciplined
mathematical approaches.” From this point of view, it
doesn’t matter whether an idea comes from biology,
psychology, or artificial intelligence, as long as it works.
You don’t need to know biology to practice biomimicry as
is practiced in this book.
However, if we don’t employ biology and true bio-
mimicry, we may miss an enormously important source
for automated control. Natural systems are good at
AUGUST 2006 « IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE 89
what we do not know how to do. The premise of bio-
mimcry is that life, on every scale from viruses to
whales, from milliseconds to geologic time, and from
single organisms to ecologies, must solve problems in
order to survive and reproduce. As Passino writes,
“Nature has things to teach us. The most complex and
robust control and automation systems in existence are
those in living organisms” [p. 89].
Some of the most difficult and general problems in
automation are distributed control problems. These prob-
lems include integrating different hierarchical levels,
increasing the range of circumstances within which auto-
nomic control is effective, and detecting when the range is
exceeded. The biological world seems to be good at all of
these things. Natural systems are complex but stable, per-
form multiple functions simultaneously, and are adaptive
and resilient. These systems seem to follow design princi-
ples we don’t yet recognize.
For example, most robot designs treat sensing and actu-
ation as separate systems. But in animals, these two func-
tions are accomplished by the same neuromuscular system
and cannot always be clearly differentiated. As another
example, no one knows how to design or test the free-flight
air traffic control concept, much less how to implement it
successfully. But birds, bees, and bats do it. Can we learn
design principles from these natural systems?
Earlier I remarked that it is not known whether social
insects actually use simple rules to direct their individual
behaviors. The main point is that using simple rules has
not been confirmed as a sound design principle. It turns
out to be quite difficult to make 100 simulated jumping
animals move smoothly in a herd if each animal uses
only local information. It is even more difficult to make
the simulated antelope herd divide around a hillock and
seamlessly merge on the other side. Our simulations
cheat by having the individuals know either the destina-
tion, mean location, or velocity of either the herd or a
supposed leader. Otherwise the animals collide, diffuse,
or fail to sustain velocity. Since real animals employ
higher level cognitive processes and exhibit other com-
plex behaviors, perhaps components in our human-engi-
neered systems should as well.
The last portion of Passino’s book challenges the reader
to build and analyze control systems for several idealized
abstractions including swarm movement, individual and
group foraging, and foraging games. Although these
tasks may not be good biology or biomimicry, the chal-
lenge is still real and important. These exercises push us
to build increasingly more complex and autonomous sys-
tems, and perhaps provide the impetus to discover new
fundamental principles. The biomimicry principle sug-
gests that we look to the natural world for answers to
these challenges.
90 IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE » AUGUST 2006
SUMMARY
Biomimicry for Optimization, Control, and Automation is an
excellent and engaging engineering book. The author
comes across as someone who has designed real con-
trollers and who has taught real engineers successfully.
The biological analogies offer a novel way to teach fun-
damentals of intelligent control. The writing in the book
is excellent for upper level undergraduates; the problems
are best for graduate students or for practicing engi-
neers. The MATLAB code and illustrations invite readers
to get their hands dirty.
However, the title is somewhat of a misnomer: “Intelli-
gent control, learning, and automation” would be more
accurate. The book lacks the coverage to serve as a text on
optimization, and it has insufficient biological accuracy
and biomimetic perspective to serve as an introduction to
biomimicry. This book is a first edition and thus may
evolve in future editions.
The conclusion challenges us with a robot vehicle fleet
control problem that bears some resemblance to forag-
ing. If, in response to this challenge, the engineering com-
munity employs a deeper level of biomimicry in terms of
both biological specificity and careful inquiry into
nature’s solutions, a fundamental breakthrough in
automation might be achieved.
—Craig Tovey
REVIEWER INFORMATION
Craig Tovey received the A.B. degree in applied mathe-
matics from Harvard College in 1977 and the M.S. in
computer science and Ph.D. in operations research from
Stanford University in 1981. He is currently a professor in
the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and in
the College of Computing as well as codirector of the
Center for Biologically Inspired Design at Georgia Tech.
His research interests include optimization, probabilistic
analysis, and interdisciplinary work in political science,
economics, and biology.
REFERENCES
[1] R.H. Storer, S.D. Wu, and R. Vaccari, “New search spaces for sequencing
problems with applications to job shop scheduling,” Manage. Sci., vol. 37, no.
10, pp. 1495–1509, 1992.
[2] W. Cook, “Optimal tour of Sweden” [Online]. Available:
http://www.tsp. gatech.edu/sweden/index.html
[3] I. Chase, C. Tovey, D. Spangler, and M. Manfredonia, “Individual differ-
ences versus social dynamics in the formation of animal dominance hierar-
chies,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. 99, no. 8, pp. 5744–5749, 2002.
[4] B. Holldobler and E.O. Wilson, The Ants. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ.
Press, 1990.
[5] O.A. Bogatyreva, “The individual behavior of ants of Formica subfamily,”
Probls. Ecol., vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 144–159, 1981.
[6] J. Bartholdi, T. Seeley, C. Tovey, and J. Vandevate, “The pattern and
effectiveness of forager allocation among food sources in honey bee
colonies,” J. Theoretical Biol., vol. 160, no. 160, pp. 23–40, 1993.
 Matrix Mathematics:
Theory, Facts, and
Formulas with
Application to Linear
Systems Theory
BY DENNIS S. BERNSTEIN
MATRICES IN SYSTEMS
Princeton University Press
AND CONTROL
US$89.95 Of all engineering fields, sys-
ISBN: 0-691-11802-7 tems and control probably
makes the most use of matrix
theory. This situation is not
due to the fact that matrices provide a compact nota-
tion for systems of differential equations, but rather
because problems occurring in the modeling, analysis,
and synthesis of dynamical systems have an incredibly
rich structure, for which matrix theory provides
invaluable tools. In particular, the literature on linear
time-invariant systems with several inputs and outputs
has always relied heavily on linear algebra because the
basic models are sets of differential or difference equa-
tions of the form
P(λ)y(·) = Q(λ)u(·), (1)
where P(λ) and Q(λ) are polynomial matrices of appropri-
ate dimensions, u(·) and y(·) are time-dependent vectors of
inputs and outputs, respectively, and λ is the differential
operator d/dt in the continuous-time case and the shift
operator z in the discrete-time case.
One of the early problems in the systems-theory litera-
ture was that of finding state-space model representations
of these dynamical systems. In such models the relation-
ship between inputs and outputs is described by a state
x(·) and a system of first-order differential or difference
equations of the form
λEx(·) = Ax(·) + Bu(·), (2)
y(·) = Cx(·) + Du(·), (3)
where E, A, B, C, and D are real or complex matrices of
appropriate dimension. The Laplace transform or the
z-transform of (1)–(3) yields the relation
C(λE − A)−1 B + D = P−1 (λ)Q(λ) (4)
between these descriptions. The study of these representa-
tions and their structural properties leads to a wealth of
matrix problems in which polynomial matrices, rational
matrices, and state-space invariants play a crucial role.
Moreover, this problem motivates matrix results that are
1066-033X/06/$20.00©2006IEEE
not available in the classical matrix theory literature, such
as the Smith-McMillan form. This canonical form for a
general rational matrix is obtained under unimodular
transformations, that is, polynomial transformations that
have a polynomial inverse. Other classical canonical forms
such as those of Jordan, Weierstrass, Kronecker, and Smith
play an important role in understanding the different
structural properties of dynamical systems and their vari-
ous representations.
In addition, models from the systems and control theo-
ry literature often have a specialized structure that
requires diverse results from matrix theory. In the study
of optimal control problems, for example, one encounters
systems with Hamiltonian and symplectic structure; in the
study of econometric and compartmental models, one
uses nonnegative matrices; in identification problems one
encounters matrices with Hankel or Toeplitz structure; in
robotics one uses orthogonal transformation groups; and
so on. It is fair to say that there are few special matrix
structures that have not been used in the systems and con-
trol theory literature. Control engineers are also avid users
of matrix equations, where two of the best known are the
Lyapunov and Riccati equations. These equations are
intrinsically linked to the study of dynamical systems
since they appear in the stability analysis and optimal
control of linear time-invariant systems.
Although control engineers make pervasive use of
matrix theory, many of those results are scattered in the
matrix theory literature. There are many books in the sys-
tems and control literature that discuss specialized matrix
topics such as those by Lancaster [6], Rosenbrock [8], and
Kailath [4]. These and other texts contain a wealth of
properties of polynomial and rational matrices and their
corresponding state-space realizations. Many results
reported in Matrix Mathematics can also be found in the
textbooks of Berman and Plemmons [2], Horn and John-
son [3], and Lancaster and Rodman [7]. Matrix Mathemat-
ics has a different aim, however, since it contains a
collection of matrix results that are relevant to anyone
working in systems and control or closely related areas.
Most of the time, the results are stated without proof, but
there are always references to the relevant literature. The
book is quite complete in the sense that most topics rele-
vant to control engineers are well covered. The present
book is, in terms of concept, similar to the classic book of
Beckenbach and Bellman [1], which contains a collection
of facts and results on inequalities. Although [1] has a
much narrower scope than Matrix Mathematics, [1]
became a classic reference.
ALL YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT
MATRICES BUT NEVER DARED TO ASK
Matrix Mathematics contains an impressive collection of
definitions, relations, properties, equations, inequalities,
and facts centered around matrices and their use in
AUGUST 2006 « IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE 91
systems and control. The amount of material that is cov-
ered is quite impressive and well structured. There is also
a very elaborate bibliography, a good index, and a list of
symbols organized by chapter. It is clear that the aim of
the author is to present a collection of results that are easy
to retrieve and well organized. The book is useful for a
wide range of scientists and engineers but is more specifi-
cally aimed at systems and control engineers or anybody
using linear time-invariant system models.
The first two chapters deal with basic properties that
can be found in any good textbook of linear algebra, but
these chapters introduce the basic notations and provide
numerous useful facts and results on cones, determinants,
commutators, and other topics. The third chapter lists sev-
eral classes of matrix structures and pays a lot of attention
to Hamiltonian and symplectic matrices since they play an
important role in optimal control problems. The fourth
and fifth chapters discuss how the eigenstructure of
dynamical systems is found from polynomial and rational
matrix decompositions, including canonical decomposi-
tions of real or complex matrices such as the Jordan nor-
mal form and the singular value decomposition. The
Kronecker canonical form receives only little attention in
these chapters.
Chapter 6 covers various kinds of generalized inverses,
including the Drazin and group inverses, which play a role
in the matrix exponential and the solution of linear sys-
tems of differential equations. Chapter 7 recalls properties
of Kronecker and Hadamard (or Schur) products. These
operations play a role in the solution of linear matrix equa-
tions and inequalities that typically occur in systems and
control theory. Chapter 8 contains a wealth of results on
positive semidefinite matrices, including inequalities for
eigenvalues, properties of submatrices, and relations
between eigenvalues and singular values of arbitrary
matrices. Chapter 9 focuses on norms of matrices and lists
many properties involving singular values of matrix sums
and products. Functions of matrices and their derivatives
are briefly covered in Chapter 10, which also contains
properties that are useful for convex optimization of
matrix functions.
The last two chapters are more targeted to applications
in the area of systems and control. Chapter 11 looks at the
matrix exponential and stability of linear dynamical sys-
tems and briefly treats Lie groups, which are relevant to
applications in robotics and kinematics. Chapter 12 looks
at state-space models and various system properties that
are typically defined for such models. Optimal control and
the matrix Riccati equations are treated in much detail here
as well. This chapter probably contains the most proofs
and best explains the concepts that are being introduced.
The book provides a rather complete survey of what peo-
ple working in the area of systems and control need in
92 IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE » AUGUST 2006
terms of linear algebra results for linear time-invariant sys-
tems. However, I did not find Karitonov’s criterion for sta-
bility of interval polynomials [5] or Rosenbrock’s feedback
structure theorem [8].
CONCLUSIONS
Matrix Mathematics is not a classroom textbook from
which one could teach matrix theory or linear systems
theory. But the book is very useful for researchers and
scientists working in those areas. Matrix Mathematics
contains a wealth of useful results and facts on matrices
and provides many references for proofs or further read-
ing. The chapters aimed at systems and control theory
provide enough introductory material to make them
accessible to nonexperts. I highly recommend the book
as a source for retrieving or verifying matrix results that
one would otherwise have to search for in the extensive
literature on matrix theory.
—Paul Van Dooren
REVIEWER INFORMATION
Paul Van Dooren received the engineering degree in com-
puter science and the doctoral degree in applied sciences,
both from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, in
1974 and 1979, respectively. He has held research and
teaching positions at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
the University of Southern California, Stanford University,
the Australian National University, Philips Research Labo-
ratory Belgium, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham-
paign, Florida State University, and the Universite
Catholique de Louvain, where he is currently a professor
of mathematical engineering. He received the Householder
Award in 1981 and the Wilkinson Prize in Numerical
Analysis and Scientific Computing in 1989. He is an associ-
ate editor of several journals in numerical analysis and sys-
tems and control theory. His main interests lie in the areas
of numerical linear algebra, systems and control theory,
and large-scale problems in graphs and networks.
REFERENCES
[1] E.F. Beckenbach and R. Bellman, Inequalities. New York: Springer-Verlag,
1965.
[2] A. Berman and R.J. Plemmons, Nonnegative Matrices in the Mathematical
Sciences. New York: Academic, 1979, reprinted by SIAM, Philadelphia, 1994.
[3] R.A. Horn and C.R. Johnson, Topics in Matrix Analysis. Cambridge:
Cambridge Univ. Press, 1985.
[4] T. Kailath, Linear Systems. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1980.
[5] V.L. Kharitonov, “Asymptotic stability of an equilibrium position of a
family of systems of linear differential equations,” Differentialínye
Uravneniya, vol. 14, pp. 2086–2088, 1978.
[6] P. Lancaster, Lambda-Matrices and Vibrating Systems. Oxford, U.K.: Perga-
mon, 1966, reprinted by Dover, Mineola, 2002.
[7] P. Lancaster and L. Rodman, Algebraic Riccati Equations. Oxford, U.K.:
Clarendon, 1995.
[8] H.H. Rosenbrock, State-Space and Multivariable Theory. New York: Wiley-
Interscience, 1970.