On good deformations of A_m-singularities

The standard way to study a compound singularity is to decompose it into the simpler ones using either blow up techniques or appropriate deformations. Among deformations, one distinguishes between miniversal deformations (related to deformations of a basis of the local algebra of singularity) and good deformations (one-parameter deformations with simple singularities coalescing into a multiple one). In concrete settings, explicit construction of a good deformation is an art rather than a science. In this paper, we discuss some cases important from the application viewpoint when explicit good deformations can be constructed and effectively used. Our applications include: (a) an n-dimensional Euler-Jacobi formula with simple and double roots, and (b) a simple approach to the known classification of phase portraits of planar differential systems around linearly non-zero equilibrium.