This book is an extended and updated translation of a textbook published in
Swedish by the CWK Gleerup Co. in 1969. Prerequisites for most of the book
are sophomore courses in mathematics (in particular calculus and linear
algebra) as well as some knowledge of a problem-oriented programming
language. The latter can be studied in parallel with the first three chapters of the
book. Parts of the book are more difficult. We hope that it will be easy for
teachers who will use the book as a text to give instructions as to what depth
the various parts are to be studied in a particular course.
We have tried to select methods which are important to large-scale
computing as well as techniques for small-scale computing with simple tools. It
is helpful if the reader has access to a time-sharing system for getting
acquainted with some of the algorithms, though in most cases a desk calculator
or even a slide rule and mathematical tables can be useful enough.
We hope that the book will be useful as a handbook for computation in
science and technology. The last chapter contains an extensive bibliography
and a list of published algorithms.