Thepresentbookdealswithvarioustypesoffactorizationproblemsformatrixand
operator functions. The problems appear in di?erent areasof mathematics
and its applications. A uni?ed approach to treat them is developed. The
main theorems yield explicit necessaryand su?cient conditions for the
factorizations to exist and explicit formulas for the corresponding
factors. Stability of the factors relative to a small perturbation of
the original function is also studied in this book. The unifying theory
developed in the book is based on a geometric approach which has its
origins in di?erent ?elds. A number of initial steps can be found in:
(1) the theory of non-selfadjoint operators, where the study of
invariant s- spaces of an operator is related to factorization of the
characteristic matrix or operator function of the operator involved, (2)
mathematical systems theory and electrical network theory, where a
cascade decomposition of an input-output system or a network is related
to a fact- ization of the associated transfer function, and (3)
thefactorizationtheoryofmatrixpolynomialsintermsofinvariantsubspaces of
a corresponding linearization. In all three cases a state space
representation of the function to be factored is used, and the factors
are expressed in state space form too. We call this approach the state
space method. It hasa largenumber of applications.For instance, besides
the areasreferred to above, Wiener-Hopf factorizations of some classes
of symbols can also be treated by the state space method.