Scientific Computing with MATLAB (Texts in Computational Science and Engineering,) [Hardcover]

Alfio Quarteroni (Author), Fausto Saleri (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2003 | ISBN-10: 3540443630 | ISBN-13: 978-3540443636 | Edition: 1

This textbook is an introduction to Scientific Computing, in which several numerical methods for the computer solution of certain classes of mathematical problems are illustrated. The authors show how to compute the zeros or the integrals of continuous functions, solve linear systems, approximate functions by polynomials and construct accurate approximations for the solution of differential equations. To make the presentation concrete and appealing, the programming environment Matlab is adopted as a faithful companion. All the algorithms introduced throughout the book are shown, thus furnishing an immediate quantitative assessment of their theoretical properties such as stability, accuracy and complexity. The book also contains the solution to several problems raised through exercises and examples, often originating from specific applications. A specific section is devoted to subjects which were not addressed in the book and indicate the bibliographical references for a more comprehensive treatment of the material.       

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews:

"With their book Scientific Computing with MATLAB the authors now intend to provide the missing link, targeting undergraduate and graduate students in computational science, mathematics and sciences as well as any other researcher … . is written in a clear and concise style, figures, tables and formula boxes complement the explanations. … The whole book is an invitation … to the reader to play with MATLAB … . a stimulating introductory text book about numerical methods that successfully combines mathematical theory with programming experience." (Anselm H.C. Horn, Journal of Molecular Modeling, Vol. 10 (1), 2004)

"The book … is concerned with computing problems in science and engineering, and it is based on the use of MATLAB. … There is also a useful bibliography and an index of MATLAB programs given in the text. The book should be useful to undergraduate students in mathematics, science and engineering." (P. Shiu, The Mathematical Gazette, Vol. 88 (512), 2004)

"Quarteroni (Ecole Polytechnique Féderale (Federale) de Lausanne) and Saleri (Politecnico di Milan) offer a fine work that introduces MATLAB and provides a very useful collection of MATLAB’S features … . The material is well presented and easily understood throughout and includes solutions for the end-of-chapter exercises. An excellent addition to academic libraries and university bookstores, this book will be useful for self study and as a complement to other MATLAB-based books. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals." (S.T. Karris, CHOICE, 2003)

"The rough contents of this remarkable volume are as follows: Introduction, Ch.1, What can’t be ignored, Ch.2, Nonlinear equations … . A wealth of problems and examples, often coming from specific applications, are solved … . Several graphical symbols are used in order to make the text more readable and attractive. All in all, the style of the book is quite lively with clear and rigorous explanations and very suggestive diagrams in which the algorithms are synthesized." (Calin Ioan Gheorghiu, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1021, 2003)

"This book provides an introduction to the very broad subject of numerical computing in scientific and engineering applications. … For those aspects that cannot be treated at an introductory level, further reading suggestions are provided at the end of each chapter. In summary, this book is a good introduction to the subject of scientific computing, which provides rapid solutions to relatively simple problems." (Thierry Metens, Physicalia, Vol. 25 (4), 2003)

From the Back Cover

This textbook is an introduction to Scientific Computing, in which several numerical methods for the computer solution of certain classes of mathematical problems are illustrated. The authors show how to compute the zeros or the integrals of continuous functions, solve linear systems, approximate functions by polynomials and construct accurate approximations for the solution of ordinary and partial differential equations. To make the presentation concrete and appealing, the programming environments Matlab and Octave, which is freely distributed, are adopted as faithful companions. The book contains the solutions to several problems posed in exercises and examples, often originating from specific applications. A specific section is devoted to subjects which were not addressed in the book and contains the bibliographical references for a more comprehensive treatment of the material. The second edition features many new problems and examples, as well as more numerical methods for linear and nonlinear systems and ordinary and partial differential equations.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 257 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (August 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3540443630
• ISBN-13: 978-3540443636
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,438,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars easy to understand and use algorithms, April 10, 2005

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W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Scientific Computing with MATLAB (Texts in Computational Science and Engineering,) (Hardcover)

As you would expect from Springer, here is a technically very accurate book. It goes over the main concepts of numerical analysis, which the authors call "scientific computing". Same thing, really. Unlike earlier years, where someone studying this field would have to write out her own Fortran code to apply the methods, we now have MATLAB. The authors chose this powerful package as one in which to explain and implement the algorithms.

These algorithms are essentially unchanged from what a book on the topic might have described, 20 years ago. Finding numerical integrals, roots of equations, solving linear systems of equations etc.

But using MATLAB helps streamline any coding. And you are encouraged to code, in the problems supplied by the book. There are even answers to some of these. So quite apart from understanding the concepts, a bonus is that you can become quite adept at fully using MATLAB's abilities as a research tool.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a word: Excellent!, March 21, 2011

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[e-mail] (San José, Costa Rica) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Scientific Computing with MATLAB and Octave (Texts in Computational Science and Engineering) (Hardcover)

The one and ONLY book that refers explicitly to Octave. Before giving many dollars away on Matlab try the open source Octave.