This text emphasizes the intelligent application of approximation techniques to the type of problems that commonly occur in engineering and the physical sciences. Students learn why the numerical methods work, what type of errors to expect, and when an application might lead to difficulties. The authors also provide information about the availability of high-quality software for numerical approximation routines. The techniques are essentially the same as those covered in the authors' top-selling Numerical Analysis text, but in this text, full mathematical justifications are provided only if they are concise and add to the understanding of the methods. The emphasis is placed on describing each technique from an implementation standpoint, and on convincing the student that the method is reasonable both mathematically and computationally.

Author Biography

Richard L. Burden is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Youngstown State University. His master's degree in mathematics and doctoral degree in mathematics, with a specialization in numerical analysis, were both awarded by Case Western Reserve University. He also earned a masters degree in computer science from the University of Pittsburgh. His mathematical interests include numerical analysis, numerical linear algebra, and mathematical statistics. Dr. Burden has been named a distinguished professor for teaching and service three times at Youngstown State University. He was also named a distinguished chair as the chair of the Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences. He wrote the Actuarial Examinations in Numerical Analysis from 1990 until 1999. J. Douglas Faires is a Professor of Mathematics at Youngstown State University. His research interests include analysis, numerical analysis, and mathematics history. Dr. Faires has won many awards, including Outstanding College-University Teacher of Mathematics, Ohio Section of MAA (1996) and Youngstown State University, Distinguished Professor for Teaching (1995-1996).