One of the main problems in control theory is the stabilization problem consisting of finding a feedback control law ensuring stability; when the linear approximation is considered, the nat ural problem is stabilization of a linear system by linear state feedback or by using a linear dynamic controller. This problem was intensively studied during the last decades and many important results have been obtained. The present monograph is based mainly on results obtained by the authors. It focuses on stabilization of systems with slow and fast motions, on stabilization procedures that use only poor information about the system (high-gain stabilization and adaptive stabilization), and also on discrete time implementation of the stabilizing procedures. These topics are important in many applications of stabilization theory. We hope that this monograph may illustrate the way in which mathematical theories do influence advanced technol ogy. This book is not intended to be a text book nor a guide for control-designers. In engineering practice, control-design is a very complex task in which stability is only one of the re quirements and many aspects and facets of the problem have to be taken into consideration. Even if we restrict ourselves to stabilization, the book does not provide just recipes, but it fo cuses more on the ideas lying behind the recipes. In short, this is not a book on control, but on some mathematics of control.
