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I read that it is possible to find a solution to a nonlinear system of equations using Newton method and Jacobian matrix. But if I understood correctly, this finds just one solution, and which one exactly depends on the initial approximations.

Is it possible to find all the solutions which satisfy the given system?

Similar situation exists with univariate polynomials: Newton method finds just one solution but then one can divide ("deflate") the polynomial by the found root and proceed with finding the next root still using Newton method. Is there anything similar for multivariate polynomials?

If it is not possible to find all the solutions using Newton's method, are there any other methods one can employ?

Ecir Hana
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    @Moo Does e.g. Durant-Kerner work for multivariate polynomials? Do you have a link perhaps with more details? – Ecir Hana Jan 18 '16 at 16:23

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In univariate case, if $p(x) = 0$ for $x = x_0$, then $p(x) = (x - x_0) q(x)$, so you can continue by looking for roots of polynomial $q(x)$. I'm not sure that anything like this is possible for multivariate polynomial systems. I suppose you can invent some similar things using resultants and Groebner bases, but I'm no expert in those.

In order to find all roots by Newton-Raphson iteration you can simply start it from many starting points. The more starting points you try, the more chance to detect all the roots. But this way you'll never be sure that you have found all of them (unless you use some theorems, e.g. Newton-Kantorovich theorem).

There are several practical algorithms for solving systems of polynomial equations. I'll only list some of the reliable ones, which are guaranteed to enclose all the zeros in some small sets. Suppose that you want to find all zeros of multivariate polynomial function $F(x)$ in domain $D = [0; 1]^n$.

  1. Subdivision method. Suppose that given a simple set $A$ you can compute a simple set $B$, such that $F(A) \subseteq B$. You can find such set $B$ methodically by using interval arithmetics. If $0 \notin F(D)$, then your system has no solutions on its domain $D$. Otherwise, split domain $D$ into several subdomains and solve your problem on all of them recursively.
  2. Interval Newton method is similar to Newton's method, but interval version of Jacobi matrix is evaluated. It allows to get quadratic convergence of Newton's method without losing reliability. It is quite hard to use, since you have to solve interval linear system on each step. Interval Krawcyk method does not require this, so it may be easier to implement.
  3. (Interval) Projected Polyherdon. This method uses Bernstein basis to represent polynomials. It is quite complex to explain, but it is a preferred method for solving polynomial equation systems in computational geometry, which means a lot. It relies on 2D convex hulls and line - polygon (convex) intersections.
stgatilov
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  • I just saw this answer. Are these methods on closed intervals always guaranteed to find a solution if one exists and do so in polynomial time in the number of variables? – Ari Mar 19 '21 at 00:54
  • @Ari, I think none of these methods is guaranteed to work in polynomial time. The three numbered methods I named don't miss any roots by themselves. And they all converge to roots, even if slowly. – stgatilov Mar 19 '21 at 07:03