I am doing a disservice to the author by having made a lone reference to the book. The book actually covers a slew of topics that together present a more than adequate picture of the essential Numerical Analysis. I am sure to use the book on future occasions.

The book is based on a course for undergraduates the author and his colleagues have been offering at the University of Iowa. The emphasis throughout is on the development of intuitive understanding of numerical methods and mathematical problems they apply to. The book is written in a clear language which is well suited for self study. Sample programs are short, well documented and, although written in FORTRAN, are easily translated into other languages like Visual Basic, C, or Pascal. Most of the examples and exercises can be easily solved (or followed) with a hand-held calculator.

The author implements the program outlined in the Preface in a very disciplined manner. The concept of error, its prediction and evaluation is discussed consistently for every method presented. Proofs of theorems are only given where they directly contribute to the understanding of a topic. Thus proofs do not overload the text at all. Instead, the author depends on numerous and well thought out examples to forster intuitive grasp of the subject.

On the whole, this is a clear and an intelligent text to teach an introductory course from. It's also a gentle introduction into a subject that will be important to engineering, business, science and liberal arts students.

Copyright © 1996-2009 Alexander Bogomolny

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