This book is intended as an introduction to fixed point theory and itsapplications. The topics treated range from fairly standard results （such asthe Principle of Contraction Mapping， Brouwers and Schauders fixedpoint theorems） to the frontier of what is known， but we have not tried toachieve maximal generality in all possible directions. We hope that thereferences quoted may be useful for this purpose. The point of view adopted in this book is that of functional analysis; forthe readers more interested in the algebraic topological point of view wehave added some references at the end of the book. A knowledge offunctional analysis is not a prerequisite， although a knowledge of anintroductory course in functional analysis would be profitable. However，the book contains two introductory chapters， one on general topology andanother on Banach and Hilbert spaces.
