Test results are included which illustrate the effectiveness of the theory.

Test results are included which illustrate the effectiveness of the theory.

A textbook for a course in either an academic or a professional education program for librarians. Reviews the principles, practice, consistency, and quality of indexing; the types and functions of abstracts; natural language in informating retrieval; and the future of indexing and abstracting services. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This book provides detailed information on index theories and their applications, especially Maslov-type index theories and their iteration theories for non-periodic solutions of Hamiltonian systems. It focuses on two index theories: L-index theory (index theory for Lagrangian boundary conditions) and P-index theory (index theory for P-boundary conditions). In addition, the book introduces readers to recent advances in the study of index theories for symmetric periodic solutions of nonlinear Hamiltonian systems, and for selected boundary value problems involving partial differential equations.

This book gives an introduction to index theory for symplectic matrix paths and its iteration theory, as well as applications to periodic solution problems of nonlinear Hamiltonian systems. The applications of these concepts yield new approaches to some outstanding problems. Particular attention is given to the minimal period solution problem of Hamiltonian systems and the existence of infinitely many periodic points of the Poincaré map of Lagrangian systems on tori.