Floating point Grijbner bases

Bracket coefficients for polynomials are introduced. These are like specific precision floating point numbers together with error terms. Working in terms of bracket coefficients, an algorithm that computes a Grobner basis with floating point coefficients is presented, and a new criterion for determining whether a bracket coefficient is zero is proposed. Given a finite set F of polynomials with real coefficients, let G, be the result of the algorithm for F and a precision value p, and G be a true Grobner basis of F. Then, as p approaches infinity, G, converges to G coefficientwise. Moreover, there is a precision M such that if p 3 M, then the sets of monomials with non-zero coefficients of G, and G are exactly the same. The practical usefulness of the algorithm is suggested by experimental results.