Theoretical and algorithmic results are given for the numerical computation
of real logarithms of nearby matrices. as an application, and an original
motivation for this study, interpolation for sequences of invertible matric
es is considered particularly for matrices with a given structure (for exam
ple, orthogonal, symplectic, or positive definite), so that the resulting i
nterpolants share the structural properties of the data. Error analysis, im
plementation details and examples are provided. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B
.V. and IMACS. All rights reserved.