Abstract
Addresses the general problem of finding bifurcations of a stable equilibrium which are closest to a given parameter vector lambda /sub 0/ in a high-dimensional parameter space. The author proposes an iterative method to compute saddle node and Hopf bifurcations which are locally closest to lambda /sub 0/. The iterative method extends standard, one-parameter methods of computing bifurcations and is based on formulas for the normal vector to hypersurfaces of the bifurcation set. Conditions on the hypersurface curvature are given to ensure the local convergence of the iterative method. The sensitivity to lambda /sub 0/ of the distance to a closest bifurcation is derived.