Z. Kovarik described in (SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 7 (3) (1970) 386] a method fo
r approximate orthogonalization of a finite set of linearly independent vec
tors from an arbitrary (real or complex) Hilbert space. In this paper, we g
eneralize Kovariks method in the case when the vectors are rows (not necess
ary linearly independent) of an arbitrary rectangular real matrix. In this
case we prove that, both rows and columns of the matrix are transformed in
vectors which are "quasi-orthogonal", in a sense that is clearly described.
Numerical experiments are presented in the last section of the paper. (C)
2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.