Computing all solutions to polynomial systems using homotopy continuation

摘要

In a previous paper we described a new method for defining homotopies for finding all solutions to polynomial systems. A major feature of this new approach is that the start system for the homotopy need not be a “random” or “generic” system. Also, homotopy paths are strictly increasing in the homotopy parameter. In this paper we establish some principles of implementation and report on the performance of programs that use the new homotopies. A feature of our implementation is that we eliminate divergent paths entirely. We include performance statistics for homotopies derived from more traditional approaches for comparison. Generally, the new approach is faster and more reliable.