Numerical analysis is the branch of mathematics that is used to find approximations to difficult
problems such as finding the roots of non−linear equations, integration involving complex
expressions and solving differential equations for which analytical solutions do not exist. It is
applied to a wide variety of disciplines such as business, all fields of engineering, computer science,
education, geology, meteorology, and others.
Years ago, high−speed computers did not exist, and if they did, the largest corporations could only
afford them; consequently, the manual computation required lots of time and hard work. But now
that computers have become indispensable for research work in science, engineering and other
fields, numerical analysis has become a much easier and more pleasant task.
This book is written primarily for students/readers who have a good background of high−school
algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and the fundamentals of differential and integral calculus.* A
prior knowledge of differential equations is desirable but not necessary; this topic is reviewed in
Chapter 5.