The history of continued fractions is certainly one of the longest among those of mathematical concepts, since it begins with Euclid's algorithm for the great est common divisor at least three centuries B.C. As it is often the case and like Monsieur Jourdain in Moliere's "Ie bourgeois gentilhomme" (who was speak ing in prose though he did not know he was doing so), continued fractions were used for many centuries before their real discovery. The history of continued fractions and Pade approximants is also quite im portant, since they played a leading role in the development of some branches of mathematics. For example, they were the basis for the proof of the tran scendence of 11' in 1882, an open problem for more than two thousand years, and also for our modern spectral theory of operators. Actually they still are of great interest in many fields of pure and applied mathematics and in numerical analysis, where they provide computer approximations to special functions and are connected to some convergence acceleration methods. Con tinued fractions are also used in number theory, computer science, automata, electronics, etc ...

Padeacute; approximants and continued fractions are typical examples of old areas of mathematics (continued fractions can be traced back to Euclid's g.c.d. algorithm more than 2000 years ago) which are again very much alive. This is due to their numerous applications in number theory, cryptography, statistics, numerical analysis, special functions, digital filtering, signal processing, fractals, fluid mechanics, theoretical physics, chemistry, engineering etc. This renewal of interest is also due to their intimate connection with other important topics such as orthogonal polynomials (another old subject now again in full vitality), rational approximation, Gaussian quadratures, extrapolation and convergence acceleration methods, differential equations etc.

The first edition of this book was reviewed in 1982 as "the most extensive treatment of Pade approximants actually available." This second edition has been thoroughly updated, with a substantial new chapter on multiseries approximants. Applications to statistical mechanics and critical phenomena are extensively covered, and there are newly extended sections devoted to circuit design, matrix Pade approximation, and computational methods. This succinct and straightforward treatment will appeal to scientists, engineers, and mathematicians alike.

The concept of continued fractions os one of the oldest in the history of mathematics. It can be traced back to Euclid's algorithm for the greatest common divisor or even earlier. Continued fractions and Pade approximants played an important role in the development of many branches of mathematics, such as the spectral theory of operators, and in the solution of famous problems, such as the quadrature of the circle.

This book contains a series of papers on some of the longstanding research problems of geometry, calculus of variations, and their applications. It is suitable for advanced graduate students, teachers, research mathematicians, and other professionals in mathematics.