Numerical Analysis using Matlab and Spreadsheets, N/ I* c1 U1 N1 s& i( L
This book is written primarily for students/readers who have a good background of high-school & R9 I& A2 s/ t2 Xalgebra, geometry, trigonometry, and the fundamentals of differential and integral calculus.* A 8 S" E' I7 E) |1 v; Uprior knowledge of differential equations is desirable but not necessary; this topic is reviewed in' \7 V6 R; g; l5 d9 }$ r
Chapter 5. ! k/ U, y- h% ~2 M5 b$ ?One can use Fortran, Pascal, C, or Visual Basic or even a spreadsheet to solve a difficult problem.* y/ H2 f- k& R6 C+ Q- f0 N
It is the opinion of this author that the best applications programs for solving engineering 7 q! W% H, P$ I& D9 Yproblems are 1) MATLAB which is capable of performing advanced mathematical and' s) {, d9 ^) b$ W; b
engineering computations, and 2) the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet since the versatility offered by5 ]( b2 N& \- Q
spreadsheets have revolutionized the personal computer industry. We will assume that the reader ?' {8 Q; r& I! u5 v) P5 o; }
has no prior knowledge of MATLAB and limited familiarity with Excel.