Piecewise constant systems exist in widely expanded areas such as engineering, physics, and mathematics. Extraordinary and complex characteristics of piecewise constant systems have been reported in recent years. This book provides the methodologies for analyzing and assessing nonlinear piecewise constant systems on a theoretically and practically sound basis. Recently developed approaches for theoretically analyzing and numerically solving the nonlinear piecewise constant dynamic systems are reviewed. A new greatest integer argument with a piecewise constant function is utilized for nonlinear dynamic analyses and for establishing a novel criterion in diagnosing irregular and chaotic solutions from the regular solutions of a nonlinear dynamic system. The newly established piecewise constantization methodology and its implementation in analytically solving for nonlinear dynamic problems are also presented.

Contents: Fundamentals of Conventional and Piecewise Constant Systems; Preliminary Theorems and Techniques for Analysis of Nonlinear Piecewise Constant Systems; Piecewise Constant Dynamical Systems and Their Behavior; Analytical and Semi-Analytical Solution Development with Piecewise Constant Arguments; Numerical and Improved Semi-Analytical Approaches Implementing Piecewise Constant Arguments; Application of P-T Method on Multi-Degree-of-Freedom Nonlinear Dynamic Systems; Periodicity-Ratio and Its Application in Diagnosing Irregularities of Nonlinear Systems.