We develop a new approach to the computation of the Hausdorff dimension of the invariant set of an iterated function system or IFS. In the one dimensional case, our methods require only C^3 regularity of the maps in the IFS. The key idea, which has been known in varying degrees of generality for many years, is to associate to the IFS a parametrized family of positive, linear, Perron-Frobenius operators L_s. The operators L_s can typically be studied in many different Banach spaces. Here, unlike most of the literature, we study L_s in a Banach space of real-valued, C^k functions, k >= 2; and we note that L_s is not compact, but has a strictly positive eigenfunction v_s with positive eigenvalue lambda_s equal to the spectral radius of L_s. Under appropriate assumptions on the IFS, the Hausdorff dimension of the invariant set of the IFS is the value s=s_* for which lambda_s =1. This eigenvalue problem is then approximated by a collocation method using continuous piecewise linear functions (in one dimension) or bilinear functions (in two dimensions). Using the theory of positive linear operators and explicit a priori bounds on the derivatives of the strictly positive eigenfunction v_s, we give rigorous upper and lower bounds for the Hausdorff dimension s_*, and these bounds converge to s_* as the mesh size approaches zero.
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