Gröbner Bases and Systems Theory

Abstract

We present the basic concepts and results of Grobner bases theory for readers working or interested in systems theory. The concepts and methods of Grobner bases theory are presented by examples. No prerequisites, except some notions of elementary mathematics, are necessary for reading this paper. The two main properties of Grobner bases, the elimination property and the linear independence property, are explained. Most of the many applications of Grobner bases theory, in particular applications in systems theory, hinge on these two properties. Also, an algorithm based on Grobner bases for computing complete systems of solutions (“syzygies”) for linear diophantine equations with multivariate polynomial coefficients is described. Many fundamental problems of systems theory can be reduced to the problem of syzygies computation.