Fundamentals of Matrix Computations (Hardcover)

by David S. Watkins (Author) "One of the most frequently occurring problems in all areas of scientific endeavor is that of solving a system of n linear equations in n..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A significantly revised and improved introduction to a critical aspect of scientific computation
Matrix computations lie at the heart of most scientific computational tasks. For any scientist or engineer doing large-scale simulations, an understanding of the topic is essential. Fundamentals of Matrix Computations, Second Edition explains matrix computations and the accompanying theory clearly and in detail, along with useful insights.
This Second Edition of a popular text has now been revised and improved to appeal to the needs of practicing scientists and graduate and advanced undergraduate students. New to this edition is the use of MATLAB for many of the exercises and examples, although the Fortran exercises in the First Edition have been kept for those who want to use them. This new edition includes:
* Numerous examples and exercises on applications including electrical circuits, elasticity (mass-spring systems), and simple partial differential equations
* Early introduction of the singular value decomposition
* A new chapter on iterative methods, including the powerful preconditioned conjugate-gradient method for solving symmetric, positive definite systems
* An introduction to new methods for solving large, sparse eigenvalue problems including the popular implicitly-restarted Arnoldi and Jacobi-Davidson methods
With in-depth discussions of such other topics as modern componentwise error analysis, reorthogonalization, and rank-one updates of the QR decomposition, Fundamentals of Matrix Computations, Second Edition will prove to be a versatile companion to novice and practicing mathematicians who seek mastery of matrix computation.

From the Publisher
The use of numerical methods continues to expand rapidly. At their heart lie matrix computations. Written in a clear, expository style, it allows students and professionals to build confidence in themselves by putting the theory behind matrix computations into practice instantly. Algorithms that allow students to work examples and write programs introduce each chapter. The book then moves on to discuss more complicated theoretical material. Using a step-by-step approach, it introduces mathematical material only as it is needed. Exercises range from routine computations and verifications to extensive programming projects and challenging proofs. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Interscience; 2 edition (May 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471213942
• ISBN-13: 978-0471213949
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #573,038 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars interesting alternative to golub/van loan, September 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Fundamentals of Matrix Computations (Hardcover)

This book is not that famous as the golub/van loan bible but it is more than competitive. Especially for undergraduate or even graduate students who want to become familiar with computational aspects of linear algebra the bible might be to compact; watkins gives one more help to understand the main ideas.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good, but not the best, November 14, 2003

By	Roger (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

when i first saw this book, i was very excited. i would have rated it 5 stars at that time. It's a much easier read than Golub's "matrix computations" and Demmel's "Applied Numerical Linear Algebra".

but then I saw Trefethen and Bau's "Numerical Linear Algebra", and I was totally amazed by that book. By comparison, this book by Watkins can only be rated 4 stars. It just doesn't match up to Trefethen's book in terms of elegance, smoothness, intuitiveness, and more importantly, focusing on the essence instead of being buried in the details.

if you are really interested in the topic of matrix computation, I suggest you start with Trefethen's book, and use Golub's book as reference later on.

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book, April 18, 2009

By	Neo - See all my reviews

I used this book to learn iterative methods and absolutely loved it. The explanations are clear and the coverage of techniques is very comprehensive. The chapters on SVD (see cover illustration) and eigenvalue decomposition are also very well explained. I found it to be engaging and more approachable for a novice than Golub and van Loan (which by the way, you *should* read after reading Watkins :-))