In the context of the characteristic polynomial of a differential equation or difference equation, a polynomial is said to be stable if either: The first condition provides stability for continuous-time linear systems, and the second case relates to stability of discrete-time linear systems. A polynomial with the first property is called at times a Hurwitz polynomial and with the second property a Schur polynomial. Stable polynomials arise in control theory and in mathematical theory of differential and difference equations. A linear, time-invariant system (see LTI system theory) is said to be BIBO stable if every bounded input produces bounded output. A linear system is BIBO stable if its characteristic polynomial is stable. The denominator is required to be Hurwitz stable if the system is in continuous-time and Schur stable if it is in discrete-time. In practice, stability is determined by applying any one of several stability criteria.

Properties

Examples

Stable matrices

Just as stable polynomials are crucial for assessing the stability of systems described by polynomials, stability matrices play a vital role in evaluating the stability of systems represented by matrices.

Hurwitz matrix

A square matrix A is called a Hurwitz matrix if every eigenvalue of A has strictly negative real part.

Schur matrix

Schur matrices is an analogue of the Hurwitz matrices for discrete-time systems. A matrix A is a Schur (stable) matrix if its eigenvalues are located in the open unit disk in the complex plane.