A Practical Guide to Splines (Applied Mathematical Sciences) [Paperback]

Carl de Boor (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387903569 | ISBN-13: 978-0387903569 | Publication Date: August 26, 1994

This book is based on the author's experience with calculations involving polynomial splines. It presents those parts of the theory which are especially useful in calculations and stresses the representation of splines as linear combinations of B-splines. After two chapters summarizing polynomial approximation, a rigorous discussion of elementary spline theory is given involving linear, cubic and parabolic splines. The computational handling of piecewise polynomial functions (of one variable) of arbitrary order is the subject of chapters VII and VIII, while chapters IX, X, and XI are devoted to B-splines. The distances from splines with fixed and with variable knots is discussed in chapter XII. The remaining five chapters concern specific approximation methods, interpolation, smoothing and least-squares approximation, the solution of an ordinary differential equation by collocation, curve fitting, and surface fitting. The present text version differs from the original in several respects. The book is now typeset (in plain TeX), the Fortran programs now make use of Fortran 77 features. The figures have been redrawn with the aid of Matlab, various errors have been corrected, and many more formal statements have been provided with proofs. Further, all formal statements and equations have been numbered by the same numbering system, to make it easier to find any particular item. A major change has occured in Chapters IX-XI where the B-spline theory is now developed directly from the recurrence relations without recourse to divided differences. This has brought in knot insertion as a powerful tool for providing simple proofs concerning the shape-preserving properties of the B-spline series.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews of the first edition:

MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

"This book is intended as a thorough presentation of those items from the theory and application of spline functions which are in a state that permits them to be offered to a prospective user under the title the author has chosen for his present publication. At several places even the expert, however, will find things elucidated in a way new to him. There are some fifty FORTRAN (sub) programs throughout the book together with an abundance of worked-out examples and many helpful comments (also in the case of pitfalls in computation) which reflect the author's ample experience in calculating with splines."

"This book is a classic reference in spline theory. It will be of great benefit to students as an introduction to the subject as well as to experts in the field." (Gerlind Plonka-Hoch, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2003 f)

"This book is a classical one with respect to calculating polynomial splines. … The author is an outstanding spline expert. Thus the book ought to belong to every university library and to anyone interested in spline theory and applications." (Helmuth Späth, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 987 (12), 2002)

Product Details

• Paperback: 372 pages
• Publisher: Springer (August 26, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387903569
• ISBN-13: 978-0387903569
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,782,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Splines are more than you thought, May 9, 2000

By 

Michael Hönquist (Copenhagen, Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Splines (Applied Mathematical Sciences) (Paperback)

This is a very nice book about splines for all who needs interpolation of data and are getting a bit nervous about the somewhat improper behaviour of normal cubic splines, i.e., the ones you learned about in your undergrad exam. The author provides both illustrative examles with computer codes (in FORTRAN) and describes the necessary theoretical background. Compared with many other books, it is readable also for a non-mathematician, although some experience with numerical analysis will be most helpful.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars de Boor's "A Practical Guide to Splines", June 14, 2005

By 

Umesh Mathur "anotherchemengr" (Houston, TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Splines (Applied Mathematical Sciences) (Paperback)

This is absolutely the most excellent book on the subject ever written. It is rigorous, accessible to those who are not professional mathematicians, and full of examples. Using de Boor's public domain software is a cinch, but you need to read the book to fully understand how to do it properly. I really wonder how I got along without it all these years.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a classic on splines, November 17, 2010

By 

Anto - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Splines (Hardcover)

The book is well-written and easy to read and the various Fortran 77 programs on the various topics within the book are very handy.