International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences
Volume 2003 (2003), Issue 12, Pages 727-737
doi:10.1155/S0161171203205287
On the interlacing property and the Routh-Hurwitz criterion
Department of Basic Sciences, College of Arts and Science, University of Sharjah, P.O. Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Received 30 May 2002
Copyright © 2003 Ziad Zahreddine. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Unlike the Nyquist criterion, root locus, and many other
stability criteria, the well-known Routh-Hurwitz criterion is
usually introduced as a mechanical algorithm and no attempt is
made whatsoever to explain why or how such an algorithm works. It
is widely believed that simple derivations of this important
criterion are highly requested by the mathematical community. In this paper, we address this problem and provide a simple proof of the Routh-Hurwitz criterion based on two generalizations of an interesting property known in stability theory as the
interlacing property. Within the same context, the singularities
that may arise in the Routh-Hurwitz criterion are also dealt with.