ABSTRACT
Introduction The principle of averaging and the averaging method are somewhat ill-defined terms used to refer to certain approximating methods which originated in work of Clairant, Lagrange, and Laplace. However, although these techniques were widely developed and used, a rigorous treatment was not undertaken until the twentieth century. For a history of the subject, see Arnold [1988, Vol. 3, Chapter 5], Sanders and Verhulst [1985], and other references in these books.
