Numerical Analysis using Matlab and Spreadsheets 7 L1 r5 Q" ~( QThis book is written primarily for students/readers who have a good background of high-school $ G% d4 [. u, u' I/ ealgebra, geometry, trigonometry, and the fundamentals of differential and integral calculus.* A, ^" c) G, d4 ]9 |& e0 c4 n
prior knowledge of differential equations is desirable but not necessary; this topic is reviewed in + V2 J7 c1 f, b: b( zChapter 5. 6 Y2 J; a" o+ A2 M# h3 [One can use Fortran, Pascal, C, or Visual Basic or even a spreadsheet to solve a difficult problem.0 v' D$ G; O4 [: w
It is the opinion of this author that the best applications programs for solving engineering 5 V( t) u% j5 z7 W# P5 w% `problems are 1) MATLAB which is capable of performing advanced mathematical and 8 {8 Y. E. n9 S3 Y2 Aengineering computations, and 2) the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet since the versatility offered by9 Z: E1 o4 r9 h" j) j A" Y3 [
spreadsheets have revolutionized the personal computer industry. We will assume that the reader$ W6 N" q4 ~' Z0 K& G1 n
has no prior knowledge of MATLAB and limited familiarity with Excel.