A simple and efficient numerical algorithm for computing the exponenti
al of a symmetric matrix is developed in this paper. For an n x n matr
ix, the required. number of operations is around 10/3 n(3). It is base
d on the orthogonal reduction to a tridiagonal form and the Chebyshev
uniform approximation of e(-x) on (0,infinity). (C) 1998 Elsevier Scie
nce Inc. All rights reserved.