This volume is an account of the lectures delivered at the international Conference ``Singularities and Dynamical Systems-83''. The main purpose of the Conference was to create conditions of scientific contact between mathematicians and physicists who have singularities and dynamical systems as common interests.

In this book, which is based on lectures given in Pisa under the auspices of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the distinguished mathematician Vladimir Arnold describes those singularities encountered in different branches of mathematics. He avoids giving difficult proofs of all the results in order to provide the reader with a concise and accessible overview of the many guises and areas in which singularities appear, such as geometry and optics; optimal control theory and algebraic geometry; reflection groups and dynamical systems and many more. This will be an excellent companion for final year undergraduates and graduates whose area of study brings them into contact with singularities.

This book is devoted to applications of singularity theory in mathematics and physics, covering a broad spectrum of topics and problems. "The book contains a huge amount of information from all the branches of Singularity Theory, presented in a very attractive way, with lots of inspiring pictures." --ZENTRALBLATT MATH

... there is nothing so enthralling, so grandiose, nothing that stuns or captivates the human soul quite so much as a first course in a science. After the first five or six lectures one already holds the brightest hopes, already sees oneself as a seeker after truth. I too have wholeheartedly pursued science passionately, as one would a beloved woman. I was a slave, and sought no other sun in my life. Day and night I crammed myself, bending my back, ruining myself over my books; I wept when I beheld others exploiting science fot personal gain. But I was not long enthralled. The truth is every science has a beginning, but never an end - they go on for ever like periodic fractions. Zoology, for example, has discovered thirty-five thousand forms of life ... A. P. Chekhov. "On the road" In this book a start is made to the "zoology" of the singularities of differentiable maps. This theory is a young branch of analysis which currently occupies a central place in mathematics; it is the crossroads of paths leading from very abstract corners of mathematics (such as algebraic and differential geometry and topology, Lie groups and algebras, complex manifolds, commutative algebra and the like) to the most applied areas (such as differential equations and dynamical systems, optimal control, the theory of bifurcations and catastrophes, short-wave and saddle-point asymptotics and geometrical and wave optics).

Singularity theory is a young, rapidly-growing topic with connections to algebraic geometry, complex analysis, commutative algebra, representations theory, Lie groups theory and topology, and many applications in the natural and technical sciences. This book presents the basic singularity theory of analytic spaces, including local deformation theory and the theory of plane curve singularities. It includes complete proofs.

The theory of singularities lies at the crossroads between those branches of mathematics which are the most abstract and those which are the most applied. Algebraic and differential geometry and topology, commutative algebra and group theory are as intimately connected to singularity theory as are dynamical systems theory, control theory, differential equations, quantum mechanical and quasi-classical asymptotics, optics, and functional analysis. This collection of papers incorporates recent results of participants in the editor's ongoing seminar in singularity theory, held in the Mechanics and.

The boundaries of singularity theory are broad and vague, connecting the most important applications of mathematics and science with more abstract areas. Optics, robotics, computer vision, Hamiltonian mechanics, bifurcation theory and differential equations are among the variety of topics that benefit from developments in the theory. With singularity theory encompassing more and more applications, Real and Complex Singularities provides insight into the future of this expanding field. Comprising refereed contributions to the Fifth Workshop on Real and Complex Singularities, this volume addresses three important areas related to the broad subject of singularities. The first section deals with questions within singularity theory itself, representing the topics currently being investigated. The second explores applications of singularity theory to differential geometry, robotics, and computer vision. The final section consists of applications to bifurcation theory and dynamical systems. With over two-hundred tables that provide quick access to data, this volume is a complete overview of the most current topics and applications of singularity theory. Real and Complex Singularities creates the opportunity for you to stay up-to-date with recent advances and discover promising directions for future research in the field.