AbstractJohn Mather has proved that infinitesimal stability implies stability for proper maps in the category of smooth manifolds. This result gives a computable algebraic criterion for stability. In this paper it is shown that there is an extension of Mather's result when the range is only assumed to be a compact semianalytic set of some real Euclidean space—this class of spaces is an obvious maximal candidate for which computations can be carried out using only classical polynomial algebra. The proof depends on a splitting theorem for the restriction map from the smooth functions on a Euclidean space to those on a closed subset and is proved by an algebraic-geometric method derived from the work of B. Malgrange. No knowledge of functional analysis is assumed although an alternative analytic method for proving the main result is also indicated. Only simple applications are given (mostly to functions defined locally in the neighbourhood of an isolated hypersurface singularity of the type studied by J. Milnor and others) since the author intends to publish a fairly comprehensive study of stability (smooth and C°) of smooth maps on closed semianalytic sets.